Pallet Town: Population, Zero
by Pete the Rock
Summary: Ash and Pikachu find a cave during an errand run, which leads them to a digital world but when the duo make it to Pallet Town, two female Digidestined follow him to an empty place. Ash, Kari, Yolei and the creatures will team up to find the townspeople.
1. Digitized & Surprised

Disclaimer: As one of the known monster crossers, you'd expect me to do another Hikarishipper. Since it involves Pokémon and Digimon, none of which I own, it would be a conformation. Well, it's not yet factual, but Ash, Kari and Yolei will be together.

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Summary: Ash and Pikachu find a cave during an errand run, which leads them to a digital world. But when the duo make it to Pallet Town, two female Digidestined follow him to an empty place. Using each other for teamwork, Ash, Kari, Yolei and the creatures try to find the missing townspeople.

_**Pallet Town: Population, Zero**_

_Chapter 1:Digitized & Surprised_

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"Boy, that was a nice ride," stretched a boy in a blue sweat-tee. "Don't you think so, Pikachu?" The boy in blue and his yellow mouse, who had a lightning-shaped tail, strolled up the beach while a boat stowed away from the shoreline.

("I do, Ash, my friend,") Pikachu agreed. Ash and Pikachu walked up the embankment, heading to Pallet Town, according to a sign that they passed. The duo strolled down the path, fully bound to reach their destination.

"Can't really wait to get home and prep for the Battle Frontier. Earning seven seals should be a snap." Sounded like Ash didn't feel like staying put for a short time. The walk would be uneventful. Just a normal, everyday walk. There's also a cavern amongst a sharp disfigured hill, but nothing too uncommon. The hill looked like a scoop of mint ice cream that someone spooned a side of the sweet treat, exposing a chocolate center. Ash and Pikachu saw that cave, curious about what it was. "That's weird. What's a cave doing here?"

("Good question.") Ash shot an eye on the path to Pallet Town, then back at the cave. Pikachu had to think that Ash was deciding between going home and journeying into the cavern.

"We don't really need to return immediately. I mean, competing against the Frontier Brains isn't a timing issue." His own words guiding him, Ash made a choice. "Well, I bet you're just as curious about this cave as I am about this cave, right?" Not waiting for a response, Ash entered the cavern with Pikachu close by. Well, the cave, it turned out, was a tunnel. The two walked throughout the narrow underground path, hoping to bury doubts that it was just a path to tunnel to Pallet Town and back. That's when they exited the tunnel. The setting was different. It appeared to be a forest...with palm trees covering the lands. Not only that, but it was more to evening that early afternoon. "Okay, we've managed to get through the tunnel in two minutes. So, why is it, all of sudden, evening?" Not even Pikachu was sure.

"You may be asking the wrong-" Pikachu stopped his talk. This was totally unexpected, even for Ash. Pikachu was able to talk...like a human.

"Pikachu, you can..?" Yep...he could.

"Whoa. I thought I would rely on Meowth for translations. This...unbelievable." Something about that cave changed Pikachu. Ash glared into the cavern, thinking that there was some sort of device that configured his little friend.

"Something had to have happened in there. No way that this is a coincidence." It was too unbelievable. "Maybe we should ask around, see if they know where we are." It seemed like the only way to go, and thing to do.

"Alright, Ash, but there is that way back, just in case." Ash and Pikachu proceeded away from the cavern. That's when Ash decided to toy around Pikachu's new tongue.

"So, now that you have the ability to speak, I bet you've got a lot to say." What would he be talking about?

"Oh, like the fact that you had the worst navigation before, during the first adventure with Misty?" Oh, Ash did not like to hear that.

"Hey, I got better!"

"Or the way you looked when you saw that one picture of Giselle." Giselle?

"Hey, you and Brock, too! How about when we were ghosts in the haunted tower near Lavender Town?" Wait...they died once, but revived?

"Now that was fun, especially how you carried Misty." Nice way to scare someone.

"Well, speaking of, you would you venture with more, Misty or May?" Pikachu took a second to come up with his opinion.

"Hands down, it's Misty. Knowing you, you'd go with May." Sheesh, those two were jawing off like opponents in a political race.

"On what evidence do you have that I would be with May?"

"She was far nicer to you, and didn't overreact to destroying her bike."

"I didn't destroy that bike. That you can blame Team Rocket for." Now, this Team Rocket's in the mix? "They were also the one's who got you sick with allowing you to store that excessive electricity." Pikachu seemed to agree with Ash about that.

"Okay, okay, I bet Norman and Caroline will give the organization the bill for May's bike." Both enjoyed a good laugh as they continued through the wooded plain. Suddenly, splashes doused the conversation short. Then, hums. "Tell me that I'm not the only one who heard water splashing." Ash heard it as well.

"That was too clear. Let's check it out." Both strolled over to the watery sound, finding a lake. They hid in some large shrubbery, and for good reason. Both Ash and Pikachu spotted a girl, bathing in the body of water. The female brunette was soaking in the clear blue water, naked no doubt. She had such a slim figure, in addition to a lack of development amongst her chest, though she did cover that with her arms. Ash and Pikachu were in awe. "Oh, wow," he quietly whispered, trying not to draw attention. He was mystified by the shear inessential beauty of her.

"It's so wrong to see someone like her, but at the same time, we can't ignore the sight." They would like to know who this girl was, right? Well, they wouldn't need to ask the question, but they were about to get an answer.

"How long are you gonna be in there, Kari?" someone beaked. Not only did Ash and Pikachu turn their heads to the voice, but so did the brunette. They saw a red bird with a white head and a feather to its forehead, attached by a midget black belt. That's new.

"Another minute, Hawkmon," she replied. "Has Gatomon wandered off somewhere?" That's Hawkmon but who was this Gatomon? Something like a cat, probably? Hawkmon shook its head, hopefully to be in reasoning with the girl.

"She's catnapping nearby. Just be lucky that Ken hasn't come around to attack us." Kari believed her feathered friend, but felt something was amiss. Was it about Ken? Was it Ash and Pikachu close by?

"It's kinda weird. Usually, he'd be throwing up another control spire to force all of us to work. Wonder if he's swamped with so much homework?" Hawkmon wasn't so sure of that being a significant reason.

"This is Ken, we're talking about. Give him an hour, and he's finished. Besides, you should be thankful that this was our day to patrol the DigiWorld, so we don't have to worry about boys coming around here." If only they knew about the two in the bushes.

"If it was someone like Davis, then there'd be no mercy. Someone like Cody or TK, I could forgive them." Where would Ash rank, we'd like to know.

"Sounds like this Davis guy's a real jerk," he, on mention, whispered to his good friend. Pikachu thought that their spot would be discovered soon, without doing something to prevent it.

"We stay here, any longer, we'll know what that wrath's all about," it warned. Cautiously, the two males backed away from the lake. Luckily, they got far without alerting Kari or Hawkmon. Although they traveled off the beaten path, because there wasn't a bloodstain to be seen, the two were happy for seeing a naked chick, despite not viewing any of the good tidbits. They decided to return back to where they came from, which was the cavernous tunnel. Still, absorbing the data, unanswered questions loomed over the two, like that bird, Hawkmon, and the unseen Gatomon, not to mention the place that they were in: DigiWorld.

"It may be just me, but something rang into my ear about the fact that the two names ended in 'mon' like Hawkmon and Gatomon. You think there's some sort of thing with that?" Pikachu heard his partner, but even he couldn't come up with a reasonable answer.

"Well, keep in mind that we're in a different place: the DigiWorld. I think it's short, like I thought she'd be saying Digit World." Hearing Pikachu, Ash's mind clicked. Did something come onto his head?

"Digit World? Don't you mean Digital World?" As if to say Ash hit a pop quiz question perfectly, it snapped his fingers, with a point to his bigger boy.

"There ya go! Though, I'm not sure about Digital Mon. That ain't it." Ash's brain began to work better and better when he thought of another answer to comprehend Pikachu.

"Digital monsters, would that work? Or...Digi...Mon..." Digimon? Was that what they saw from Hawkmon? Pikachu showed a face of disgustful, not liking this turnout.

"Digimon? Great! The Pokémon have competition." Don't sell yourself short, little buddy. Ash snapped with a smirk, as if this was just a simple obstacle to overcome.

"You never know, Pikachu. They may be friendly. I mean, remember Latios and Latias after Lorenzo helped clear things up?" Pikachu made the look that would tell their friends that "Did you forget?".

"How can I not? Believe me when I say this, but Bianca was the one who kissed you." Ash froze in his tracks. He was the one who brought up the memory, but Pikachu pointed out a special smooch that occurred.

"Y-y-you knew?" He wouldn't have know back then, since Pikachu didn't have this ability. Even now, the news that someone named Bianca kissed Ash came at Ash in dismay. "Wow..." That's when they both realized...they were back at the entrance tunnel. That was quick. Going through here again would send them back toward Pallet Town. "So, what are the chances that you'll keep this and scare Mom and Prof. Oak?" Pikachu had that moment again. It had doubts.

"Bad. When we go through this again, I'll sound like myself, before coming here. I'd rather leave all the talking to Meowth, anyway." That's a shame. We were starting to like you now.

"Or Mewtwo, Lugia, Ghastly, or even Larvitar that one time." Pikachu had to shoot a laugh for the names Ash remembered. They entered the tunnel...but they didn't go unseen. A lavender-haired girl in a leather helmet and glasses saw them enter the cavernous tunnel, wondering who they were, or how they got there.

"Okay, I didn't just see Davis with another Digimon here," she suspected. "That hair was too dark to be him." Without waiting for Kari or Hawkmon, she followed Ash into the tunnel. What awaited Ash when he got to home, since he mentioned that his Mom was in Pallet Town? What about Kari, the lavender-haired, and the mentioned creatures?

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TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Homebound & Bounded

_Chapter 2:Homebound & Bounded_

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Ash and Pikachu crawled out of the strange tunneling hole that appeared to have bonded two different lands together. The two were lucky...lucky to be men. Well, they did see a young brunette female named Kari bathing in a lake. Usually, people bathe in the nude, so it would be no surprise that Ash would peek and see a sight for any outright lecture to gawk towards. "Well, that was a nice sidetrack," Ash sighed with a smile. Pikachu did like it there, since he was able to talk like a human for the first time. However...

("It sure was, Ash,") it squeaked in agreement. It didn't establish in their world. That bit. Pikachu knew it. ("Well, it was nice when I had it.") Yeah, it was nice to spill secrets to your best friend. It was worth it.

"We should get packing. There may be no time limit to completing the Battle Frontier, but we can't really stall them. It'd be rude of us." That's right. Ash was preparing for the Battle Frontier. Wait...what's the Battle Frontier? Hey, Ash- They left. They're now on their way to Pallet Town. As they parted scene, someone else came by. From the same cave was that lavender-haired girl...Timeout! She was wearing a blue bandanna, a magenta button-down t-shirt over a blue blouse and a magenta long skirt. Where was the helmet? The aviator costume? She looked around, mystified of the new setting.

"What the heck is this?" she asked herself. "Some sort of parallel world?" Parallel world? Well, it's connected. Suddenly, she spotted Ash and Pikachu running toward the seen town. "That's him! I gotta warn Kari." She bolted back through the tunnel. As she re-emerged in the other lands, her first outfit was back on. Was there a changing room in that tunnel? She came out the other side running to a newly dressed Kari, sporting a sleeveless pink shirt with a large white stripe in the middle. She also had yellow shorts, thigh-high pink/white striped socks and pink old school basketball shoes. By her was a white cat with purple hair sprouting from its ears and tail, all while donning yellow clawed gloves. Was this the cat-napper, as in the sleeping kitten? "Kari!" Kari heard her friend as Hawkmon swooped down to join the others.

"Yolei, what is it?" she wondered. She got to Kari, heavy breathing heard from yards away.

"A breach in the DigiWorld!" Kari's eyes shot wide, learning that someone had broken into this world. Already, she thought up suspects.

"Davis must be wanting a sneak peek, jeez, that guy won't leave me alone." Wow. Suspect _and_ motive. Yolei was ready to defend this Davis...well, not really. More like, say that it was not him.

"That's who I thought, too, until I saw that this guy had a yellow mouse, not Veemon." Yellow mouse? Ready to forgive Davis, now?

"Where did you see this guy, Yolei?" Hawkmon questioned. Yolei was ready to explain with one deep breath.

"There's a cave about a half-mile from here, and get this. On the other side, there was a town, and weird enough, I was in my other wardrobe, meaning that it's not part of the DigiWorld." Gasps clouded the scene. They were in disbelief that someone could waltz into this world and cause confusion. "If we hurry, we'll be able to see him, again. I bet he's the one who sneaked a peek."

"Okay," Kari agreed to tag along. The four ran to the cavern and, without hesitation, entered. As the Digimon and girls trenched through the tunnel, Ash and Pikahcu were in the town limits. Both gazed the sudden bare streets, houses, plants...nothing felt correct in Ash's head.

"This is weird," he gulped. "Where is everybody?" Pikachu was also left in the dark from the reasons the roads were empty.

("Not sure,") it blankly shrugged. Ash had one suspicious reason of the absence of the people.

"You don't think Prof. Oak planned a surprise party for us while running a parcel to Prof. Ivy over on Valencia Island, do you? I mean, finishing in the Top Eight in the Evergrande Tournament is impressive." The Top Eight? Out of how many others? Pikachu began to get that same uneasy urge that this was a ploy that Ash believed. "I don't know. It's probably just me." That's right, it's all in your head. They stopped by a white house with a nice porch. Without a moment of waiting, Ash and Pikachu walked in, probably expecting someone, at least...all while Yolei, looking through binoculars, spotted them.

"That house, huh?" she figured while back into the bandanna and skirt. She looked through the same town, not seeing anyone else as well. This was weird. "Huh, no one else seems to be outside. Pandemic, perhaps?" Then, she saw a rather large house with windmills at each side of it. Nothing there, either. Kari, who's wardrobe didn't change, wasn't paying attention to what Yolei saw, or said.

"Wow, aren't you all sorts of friendly?" she giggled while a green caterpillar-like creature crawled around her neck, seemingly tickling her. Yolei turned to the childish giggles, eying Kari with that caterpillar-like creature...not quite the happy tone. The two Digimon were just watching, rather amused with this unusual insect.

"Kari, put that caterpillar down! You don't know where that's been!" Yolei, Kari isn't your daughter.

"Oh, come on! It's cute." Cute, maybe, but did she have any clue on what it was? "Besides, I'd be more worried about that insect." She was pointing to a yellow worm-type creature with a spike embedded on it's crown. One look was all Hawkmon and the white cat needed.

"She's got a point, Yolei," the cat understood. Yolei bobbed a nod, agreeing with the cat, but looked back at Pallet Town.

"I want to go and see what this boy was doing in the DigiWorld," she plotted. "Even if it means we need to use dirty tactics." Kari heard her good friend, thinking that she was going to punish the boy just for wandering into the world that they came from.

"Why are you willing to use excessive force?" she questioned. "If he'd harmed the DigiWorld, it's one thing, but I'm beginning to think that you're overreacting to spotting a guy." Yolei didn't seem too concern with what Kari believed. She was ready to execute action.

"Just trust me on this. Gatomon, Hawkmon, let's go." She sprinted off ahead with the two Digimon, leaving Kari and the caterpillar alone.

"Oh, boy." Knowing that she could use help, Kari followed, the caterpillar still clung to her shoulder. Ash was snacking with Pikachu in the kitchen, who was licking ketchup from a bottle. No hot dogs, no burgers, no brats. Just straight ketchup. Ash had something a little more sensible: an apple. Still, he felt something missing.

"It doesn't make sense," he muttered. Pikachu was thinking what Ash had his mind on.

("The fact that the streets are empty?") he guessed while sipping the oozing tomato dressing. Ash's apple was bitten by him as his brain was hard at work.

"The townspeople would be supporting me during the tournament, but for everyone to file, like into Prof. Oak's lab, it just seems unreasonable. I don't know if May's gonna come with me on this one. Max was here when we left to run that errand to Prof. Ivy a couple of days ago." Before Pikachu could try to delve into the issue, a knock was heard. Finally, other than Pkachu, Ash was about to have company. "Now, who could that be? Pikachu, you stay here."

("Understood.") Ash walked to the front door, anticipating someone to explain the absence of the townsfolk. When he opened the door...no one was there. Weird.

"There's no way that it was in my head." Ash stepped onto the porch...into Yolei's trap. Yolei, Hawkmon and Gatomon held the wooden beams that supported the porch above Ash. "Hello?" Yolei sprang down. When she landed on the wooden porch, she wrapped her arms around Ash's head and neck. A WWE classic submission move: the sleeper hold. Cutting off blood circulation and oxygen to the brain, Yolei's grip was mighty strong. Ash tried to stay alive, fighting the grapple as best he could. He grasped her arm that was over his throat, trying to yank it away. Yolei couldn't believe the strength Ash had in his tank.

"Do it!" she cued. Gatomon leaped down, hitting the porch before springing head first...into Ash's gut. The strike flattened Ash's lungs and stomach, knocking the wind and some apple remains from his mouth. Yolei applied one final twist. Before long, Ash was out. Yolei didn't kill Ash, did she? "Guess he was a little tougher than I thought." She dragged Ash back inside the house, carrying him by the armpits as Kari and the caterpillar made it to the scene. Yolei motioned her head to grab a chair for Ash to sit in. Kari raced into the kitchen, right in front of Pikachu. Kari grabbed a seat and carried it to Yolei, not even looking to the mouse. Pikachu saw the caterpillar, unsure of what to make of the situation.

("Was that Kari?") he wondered. ("What's she doing with a wild Caterpie?") Thinking that it was something that might have been requested by Ash, he went right back to licking ketchup. Thanks a lot, No-Help. Grateful for an available chair, Yolei plopped Ash onto it. Now came a dilemma for the both of them.

"I kinda wish I brought rope." Caterpie was willing to help, making noises for attention. Without warning, it spat silky string from its mouth, wrapping around Ash. Two minutes of stringing later, Ash was cocooned, except for the head. It was strapped to the chair, unable to get out. Kind of pointless, since he was still sawing logs. The girls were amazed with what Caterpie was able to do.

"Wow, I didn't know you had it in you," Kari awed. Caterpie enjoyed the feeling of being accepted by Kari. Hearing two different voices, Pikachu ran into the scene, viewing a wrapped friend alongside the two femmes. He didn't like the sight of his friend cocooned against his subconscious will.

("What do you want with Ash?!") he roared. Kari, Yolei and the Digimon jumped, spooked by the sudden appearance of Ash's good partner.

"Didn't really count on resistance," Gatomon shuttered before going into some sort of combat mode, claws in the ready. Pikachu started to pinch its cheeks a bit, emitting electric sparks. Was this a showdown? Gatomon versus Pikachu? 'So, it's got electricity running through its veins. This might be interesting.' Pikachu's mind...a little unusual.

'Here, kitty, kitty, kitty. Come get some delicious rat.' You sure you want to bait Gatomon over? This was about to explode into a bad fur-flying fight...until Kari stepped in.

"Gatomon, stand down," she ordered. Gatomon and Pikachu looked up to the brunette, surprised that she wanted to avoid bloodshed. She knelt down to the mouse, willing to confront him. "We're not here to cause confusion. We were wondering why this boy was in our world." To Pikachu, she was a nice girl, not a reason to show aggression.

("Oh, really?") Both looked over to the zonked Ash. It was time to arouse him.

"Does he have any girlfriends? You know, someone dating him?" G-g-girlfriends? Pikachu would not know anything about a girlfriend that Ash had, prompting him to shake his head in denial. Yolei and the Digimon had to figure that she was up to something mischievous.

"Kari, what are you planning on doing?" Hawkmon questioned her motive. Kari was not going to say a word. She ushered her lips to Ash, planting a kiss, mouth-to-mouth. Yolei, Hawkmon, Gatomon, Pikachu and Caterpie balked stunned gestures to what Kari was performing. She removed her lips, waiting for her magic to kick in. It would take a few seconds. Ash began to arise from the sleeper.

"What's going on?" he groggily moaned. He looked up, seeing the girl who he spotted in that lake, and another girl, who stepped up, willing to grill the trainer allowing himself to notice the cocoon wrap. "Why am I wrapped up in String Shot?" Yolei cupped Ash's chin, pulling him to her face.

"Okay, bub," she snarled. "Now that you're awake, we have a few questions like what you and your rat were doing in the DigiWorld?" Ash was flushed from his mental hiding spot. He tried to act innocent about his short stay in that alternate spot...until he saw the sleeve from when he was in that sleeper hold.

"Like I'm gonna answer to someone who watches too much pro wrestling." That got Yolei to start boiling blood. Kari decided to be the better voice.

"Allow me, Yolei," she offered again. Yolei backed off, allowing Ash to see the fully clothed girl that he witnessed bathing in the lake.

'It's her, again,' he remembered. 'I better not mention seeing her naked.' Kari was ready to talk, but was Ash?

"We're sorry about this. Apparently, my friend saw you somewhere in the world we're from. She was curious to know what your business was." She acted a lot more friendlier than Yolei, making Ash feel more trustworthy to her.

"Well, did you guys come out of the cavern nearby here?" Kari nodded, confirming Ash's question. "Well, curiosity had me and Pikachu check out that cavern. When we came out the other side, Pikachu was able to talk human, and we wandered around for a bit. We didn't really do much but stroll before returning here. We were coming back from an errand over in the Orange Islands." Good thing he dodged the part of seeing a nude Kari. Kari and Yolei felt that they did overreact to a non-issue.

"Yolei, it seems we've mistaken this nice fellow for someone like Davis," Hawkmon realized. That name again.

"Is this Davis a real creep?" The fact that this was heard again, Ash had to believe that he needed to stay clear from him.

"Not necessarily a creep," Yolei answered. "More of a no-nonsense, obsessive guy who think that going with Kari's concept." Verified, Ash rethought on the understanding of where these girls were proclaiming.

"I see. Sorry for making such a debacle for everyone."

"Hey, like Hawkmon said, you're a nice guy. No reason to get mad at you for something we're trying to protect." Ash chuckled, defogged of their confusion. "Now, let's get you out of that cocoon." Ash agreed, wanting to get out. Did he need to go to the bathroom? "Besides, I think we could get along well, together, despite the Sleeping Prince wakeup kiss by Kari." Yolei seemed to have liked Ash. As she grabbed a knife to cut the strings, a television was turned on. That was when a bombshell was dropped.

"24 hours have passed since the entire Town of Pallet has become deserted," a news anchorman announced. Ash, Kari, Yolei and the creatures turned to the TV, wondering what was up with the headline. "The town, located in the western portion of the Region of Kanto, has remained clear of any citizens, including the head professor, Samuel Oak, and famed Pokémon trainer, Ash Ketchum." Two mugshots appeared on the screen. One was a grayish white-haired man with a good amount of wrinkles on his forehead. The other...was Ash! Everyone was shocked. The girls had no clue that they held a famed person captive. Ash was more surprised that his hometown had been quiet for an entire day. The news didn't know that Ash was back. What other contortionist's twists and race car's tight turns waited the young group?

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TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Headline & Highlight

_Chapter 3: Headline & Highlight_

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A darkened room, illuminated by monitors showing plains, tress, sands, waters...it's like the world was in the six screen. On a big sofa chair, a young man in such a tacky bluish imperial outfit. His spiked hair and oversize shades, along with a raucous evil smirk, disguised intentions of any monarchy he had on the world in view. "The DigiWorld seems empty for some reason," he gulled. "I should throw up replacement control spires on Server. Those ruthless Digidestined keep knocking them down." Oh boo-hoo! Suddenly, a screen changed, catching his attention. It was that cave that Ash and the girls, and creatures crawled under...and there was Ash and Pikachu, walking back to the cavern. There was no audio, so he had no idea what they were talking about. "Who's this? Definitely no one I'm use to." Before long, the screen caught Yolei following Ash into the cavern. "Fascinating. That hotheaded girl made pursuit." Now, it showed Yolei convincing Kari and the Digimon to follow Ash into the hole, which they did. "Well, that new boy gave me an idea. And thanks to video editing, those guys will slaughter the new kid." His laughter was a plan to ploy a lynching on Ash. Would any males fall for this tactic by this yongster? Meanwhile, back at the deserted Town of Pallet...well, not too deserted, Ash, Kari, Yolei, Gatomon, Hawkmon, Caterpie and Pikachu were viewing the news about the disappearance of the townspeople.

"The disappearance of the entire population of 852 in Pallet Town have investigators baffled," the anchorman headlined. "No evidence to explain the sudden vanishing act has been found. While all possibilities for this widespread act are open, the strongest may be rather scientific, relating to the-" To the what? What? Yolei hit the "MUTE" button, silencing the TV. They had enough of the news, but it was about to reveal a possible scientific fact.

"Not the smallest town that I heard of," Gatomon huffed. "But they don't know that Ash is here in Pallet." All noted it, saying that these investigators came and left. Ash was wondering how they knew about the loss of the townsfolk so immediately.

"I want to know who tipped authorities here so fast," he threw up. Good point. "No one would just go and say, 'Pallet Town's citizens have vanished!' and run off." A _really_ good point. Gatomon knew Ash was on some sort of trail. That's when she saw a man in a lab coat on TV.

"Looks like a scientist is engaging in an interview." All peered back to the screen, seeing a worried light-brunette short-haired man in the white coat. Right away, Ash recognized him.

"Prof. Elm?" Hearing the name, Yolei turned the volume back on.

"I was talking with Prof. Oak about the Munchlax dieting, where I debated the stomach acids dissolve more nutrients than its fully evolved form of Snorlax, when the lines went dead," he told a newsman. "The lines were down for an hour from over there, but when I tried to dial Oak's number, again, he wasn't there." Well, that couldn't be enough to call authorities. There had to be more.

"So, when failure to contact Samuel Oak was affirmed, you thought he may have gone elsewhere?" the newsman asked.

"That's right. I knew a few places that he would go to like the Xanadu Nursery and the Ketchum residence. I tried both places, even the other Oak household. When there was no answered, I sent a Pidgey to survey the issue, but when it came back with more worry than what I look like now, I sensed something amiss and called." He sent a Pidgey and knew something was wrong? Interesting use. The anchorman came back on the air...well, his voice, at least. There was a picture of Ash that came on.

"We can only hope for everyone's sake that Ash Ketchum, who finished in the Top Eight in the Hoenn League, is safe." That's a intriguing statistic. Top Eight...how many participants? Once again, Yolei muted the noise.

"Does that answer your question?" Kari asked.

"A good portion of it," Ash murmured. "But how could the phone lines go down and come up so slowly? It doesn't make any sense." It seemed that any explanation had doubts. Before anyone could come forth with an answer, the phone rang. The town was practically empty, so who thought that someone could still try to call this place? Ash got off the couch and walked over to the phone, picking the receiver up and to his ear. "Ketchum residence. Ash, speaking." This had better not be a prank call.

"Oh, thank goodness that you're there, Ash!" a woman spoke from the other side. For some reason, Ash felt nostalgic with this caller.

"Caroline? Let me guess, it's about Max, right?" Ash turned on a monitor attachment that came with the phone. There, a grown redhead woman was facing the monitor, as if Ash was there in person.

"Do you know if May's there? She left when she heard about Prof. Birch and Max taking off to see Prof. Oak, so I'm fearing for their safety." Her face exposed the same panic that she was illustrating.

"I can't really say that I've seen her, but since I was gone for the past few days, she may have stopped by here."

"Oh, no." Guess that was the wrong thing to say. So, three more people were possibly accounted for: Prof. Birch, Max and May. Ash realized that he and his four or five new friends needed to see for themselves on what happened here those 24 hours ago.

"Look, Caroline, I'm here and with help, we'll find out about what happened to everyone here." Caroline nodded, trusting Ash with this proposition.

"Make sure they're safe." The screens went black, ending the call. Ash had more on his plate than he ordered from the menu.

'That's 854 accounted for.' Right, you don't count since you're in your hometown. 'I shouldn't forget Misty. That's 855, but where do I start looking?' There were far too many places to investigate. Yolei came to Ash's side, wondering about his talk with Caroline.

"You knew her?" she questioned. Ash swung his to the tough teen, concern that something or another came up.

"Yeah, her husband is the Petalburg City Gym Leader, while her two children are good friends of mine when I traveled throughout Hoenn. She's worried that something may have happened to them to go along with this town." To Yolei's view, this whole scenario was eating him up more than tapeworms in an obese person's stomach. Pikachu was showing the same concern as Yolei was. Kari stood up, wanting to put a good spin on the problems with the trainer.

"I know we'll find them," she refined. Yolei, Ash and the creatures turned to the brunette, who seemed to desire a chance to loom to see clues in this sudden case. "I mean, they're out there, right? It's just a matter of time before something or another appears and guides us to the people." Renewed spirits, Pikachu and Caterpie acknowledged the confidence of the girl.

"I agree, Kari," Gatomon joined. "If authorities can't find a clue, then we'll look over the investigation." Even Hawkmon got rejuvenated from Kari's pep talk.

"Leave it up to the Holmes-style crack team to understand this mystery," he beaked. "Ash, Yolei, you involved too?" Like they needed to be motivated any more.

"And to think, Kari and I were doing surveillance over the DigiWorld," Yolei snickered. That's when something clicked in Ash's head. Something Yolei said made Ash think. Pikachu saw the snap reaction of his friend, worried that maybe he went to thinking mode and would probably make his head erupt.

("Ash?") it called out. ("Ash, speak to us.") Before anyone could figure out what Ash had in mind...BAM! Ash snagged Yolei's head, yanked her to him, and kissed her...on the lips! Yikes! That startled everyone, even Ash. They broke apart lips.

"Genius," he shot before bolting out the door. Yolei was awed. Was it the kiss? Was it what Ash called her? It had taken moments for everyone to straighten out, but when they broke from the stunning scene, they pursued Ash out the door, where Ash was staring at a telephone pole. So what now?

"Ash, what's the deal?" Hawkmon wondered. Ash turned to the rest while pointing a finger to the top of the pole.

"Look up, once." The rest listened, glaring to the top of the pole. There, a black orb was spotted, hanging over the side of the pole. Was there something there? "I remembered that Prof. Oak had installed eight surveillance cameras throughout the perimeter of Pallet Town as a means to counter burglary and kidnapping, while having a separate one to keep an eye on all the Pokémon in his ranch." So, Oak was not only a professor, but a watchman, too. Now, that's fascinating. "When Yolei mentioned surveillance, it made me think about the cameras and how they're all wired into Oak's supercomputer." It made complete sense. During the time that Ash was gone, the cameras would've caught something phenomenal that would explain why the townspeople of Pallet vanished.

"I get it," Yolei caught on. "CCTV!" Closed circuit television?

"Exactly. Even more, with 100 hours of video recording periodically, we'll see what took everyone from here." 100 hours? Plenty of time to see what transpired. "Let's get to the lab and check it out." The three paced off, running toward Oak's lab, possibly holding the truth to the disappearance of the townspeople. Their trip seemed to be straightforward. Well, Pallet Town was empty. Minutes in, and no one in sight. That's when, without as much as a "red flag," the ground under their feet collapsed. Yelps echoed as they plummeted into the round hole...well, all except for Hawkmon. Those who fell hit the bottom in bone-crunching thuds. Ash was quick to recover, only seething at this nuisance. Kari fell on Ash, while Yolei was on top of Ash's arm. Hole must have been narrow. Gatomon was on Pikachu's back, reeling from the pitfall. Scared that his human friends may have been injured, Hawkmon descended into the hole.

"Is everyone all right?" it beaked up. Groans bellowed out of everyone. They were in pretty bad pain. Before they could get a word in, three villainous laughters sounded. To Ash, it was trouble.

"Don't tell me." Suddenly, a woman with bloody red hair emerged.

"Prepare for trouble, you're all alone," she incorrectly bellowed. Then, a blue-haired man came out, revealing himself.

"Make it double, even within your own home-" he froze his words when he looked down, seeing the truth about Ash _not_ alone.

"An evil as old as the galaxy!"

"Timeout, Jessie!" Thanks, it was being stupid. "Apparently, we miscounted." Jessie peered down, eying the females. Yolei and Kari were shaking heads, trying to loosen cobwebs of aches. Ash knew who they were.

"Not you, again, Team Rocket!" he growled. Team Rocket? What kind of name was that?

("You're not allowed to take me!") Pikachu protested. Jessie evilly smirked, not concern about the accidental additions.

"Of course it is, twerp," she sneered. "What, you didn't think that with the town being abandoned as it is, that we'd overlook you, less your girlfriends?" Ash's growl was more ferocious than a minute ago, until he noticed something in the air. An orange winged-dragon with a flame at the tip of his tail. "Besides, with our latest in electric-insulation technology, Pikachu is as good as ours for the taking."

"I'd like to see you shock us into blasting off," James dared. Seeing the airborne creature, Ash plotted one and only one move.

"Oh, I'll grant your wish," he snapped. "Charizard, Fire Spin!" Charizard? Jessie and James were a bit stunned with that reply. The orange lizard swooped down, as Jessie and James turned to the creature. That's when the lizard spewed out a massive amount of fire, striking the two. Then, the fire began to wrap itself around the two, trapping them in an infernal tornado. The two were burned and twisted before getting spat out at the top. Jessie and James were going far far away and, in the words of legendary baseball commentator Bob Uecker, they were getting up, getting up, getting outta there and gone!

"Team Rocket's blasting off without Meowth!" they yelled in unison as they vanished in the daylight sky. Who did they forget? Charizard landed adjacent to the hole, just as Kari and Yolei got back on their feet. Ash was proud to see someone or something help the three in their brief need.

"Thanks, Charizard. Perfect timing on your part." Charizard happily snarled, accepting the response of Ash. As if this was coming, the girls were puzzled with how this winged creature and Ash were good friends, but Yolei seemed to ponder an idea of the issue.

"So, this Charizard was once yours?" she guessed.

"Yep. I picked up Charizard as a Charmander during my first adventure and soon enough, Charmander evolved to Charmeleon and then Charizard. It was hanging out at the Charisific Valley ion the Johto region." Charizard nodded to confirm Ash's claims, prompting Kari to take a guess on his visit.

"It must have heard the news story on the Pallet Town's people's desertion, and came to see if it was true," she shot. Another nod bobbed from Charizard's head. So, a media voice told the dragon to go and make sure. Either way you look at it, Ash was just glad to see his partner, once more. "Say, can String Shot help get us out of here?" Caterpie's String Shot? Yolei believed it could.

"It was tough enough to hold Ash in place," Yolei pointed out. "I'm sure it can hold us out of this hole." Kari trusted Yolei on this, thus having her point Caterpie to the top of the hole.

"You heard us, Caterpie. Use String Shot." Caterpie spat the sticky String Shot up, out of the hole. Quick to react, Charizard snatched the String Shot and began to yank on it, allowing Yolei to escape, then Kari and the creatures, and lastly Ash.

"Thanks for your help, Charizard," he praised. "By the way, how's Charla doing?" Who's Charla? Charizard grumbled, acting as if it was none of Ash's business.

"I think Charizard wants to drop the subject," Yolei tried to simplify. Ash, now, believed that his Charizard and Charla got into a scuffle, and ain't talking to each other.

"Okay, I'll step away. Besides, it's great to know that you're doing well." Instead of a nod, Charizard eyed Ash with determination. Suddenly, Gatomon heard a rustle. Was someone else here? Meowth?

"Guys, don't relax yet," she warned. Everyone's head was focused on the moving branches of the close by tree. That's when a whitish ivory cat fell, smacking the gold coin that was embedded on its forehead and his face. His curled tail straightened momentarily before curling back up. Lifting its head, it faced the only protectors of Pallet Town before looking around.

"Meowth, you're late." That's Meowth?

"Don't bother," it murmured...in a Brooklyn tone? "I'll exit, stage left." He walked off, following where Jessie and James flew off to. Okay...

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Hawkmon monotoned.

("For sure,") Pikachu copied in tone. Before long, Ash was ready to go and seek information to this mystery.

"Let's get to Prof. Oak's lab, now that that's out of the way," he stated. Confirmations from all had them all racing for the lab. With the mystery digging a deeper hole, that youngster in the darkness could hinder the search for the townspeople. Could there also be a triangle with Ash, Kari and Yolei? Would it compromise the investigation?

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Deceive & Detect

_Chapter 4: Deceive & Detect_

* * *

There was a school that was unseen in the early parts of the tale of deceit. There was a room full of desktop computers in addition to three more creatures. All on a bookshelf asleep, there was a yellow ball with wings with a quirky-looking face. A second creature with with wings was cute orange piglet with the last one being wingless. That was a miniature blue imp that you could cuddle in your sleep. They were rather cute. Suddenly, the door to the room slid open. A brunette young man sporting an afro entered the room, prompting the creatures to awaken. The young man wore a blue jacket and light-brown shorts. He looked toward the creatures who saw him back. The man peered around, spotting no one else. "Say, guys, have Kari and Yolei made it back?" he asked. The three glared at each other, hoping someone saw the two girls. No luck. They're with Ash in the deserted Town of Pallet.

"Can't say we have, Davis," the mini-imp replied with a bit of concern. Davis gawked a look over to a computer, seemingly worried about the girls.

"They should have been back by now. What's going on?" The creatures shared concerned looks amongst each other. Davis didn't want to wait. "Forget that there's a schedule of patrolling against Ken. I'm going in after them!" He dug into his pockets for something, but...

"Not while the Digidestened veteran is around, Davis," someone spoke out. From behind the computer that Davis was facing, a blond boy in a fisherman's cap rose from hiding. Davis jumped, spooked by the sudden appearance of this veteran.

"What the heck are you doing here, BS?" The blond sighed, already flustered by the angered rant of that nonsense.

"Now, you're just being ridiculous. The name's TK." Way off what Davis gawked. "Anyway, I'm fully aware of your intentions of chasing after Kari, and I was summoned to keep watch by Yolei's request." He was making sure that no one stepped out of line. How polite of him. Davis wanted to address his concern about the girls' failure of return.

"While I do appreciate that you're listening to Yolei, haven't you noticed that the girls haven't come back yet?" TK had to have been aware. Davis did spit it out when he entered the room.

"I was about to e-mail Kari about what was keeping them from getting out of the DigiWorld. I sure hope Ken hasn't spotted them." In a sense, TK had the same fear that Davis verbally vomited.

"Okay. See about that e-mail being sent out, while I alert Cody about this." The orders were set. However, there was a sudden interruption of the wicked kind.

"Well, well, hello again, insects of the DigiWorld," sneered another young man. The two and creatures glared at the computer screen, seeing a spiky violet-haired youngster in that tacky get-up from the last segment. The boys were quick on identifying him.

"Ken!" This was Ken? The name wasn't intimidating.

"What have you done with the girls?!" TK ordered an answer. Ken seemed to smile, as if any humanity that this guy had was dead.

"Right to the point, I see," he snickered. "Well, here's the bad news: those girls are gone." Thinking that Kari and Yolei were dead, Davis and TK began to fume with anger...until Ken threw this up. "I'm not even sure on where they are, now." Take a breather, you two. The girls were fine.

"Don't scare us like that," Davis complained. "You could've given me a heart attack."

"Just a mere shock treatment to make sure you understand." That worked. They understood a little too much for a sec. "I do have good news, but I wanna know if you're willing to do your rescuing duties." To TK, it felt like a trap. To Davis, those girls became a first priority.

"What rescuing duties?"

"I have the videotape of where they may have gone." Keep in mind, Ken did the video editing, but the boys had no idea about this sinister ploy. Davis was more interested with this tape.

"Show us." The tape played, showing Yolei telling Kari and the Digimon that there was a secret passage in the cavern. After they entered...there was Ash and Pikachu! "What the?" Of course, they had no clue on those two. Worse, the video had no audio. Ken made it look rather convincing. It appeared backwards to what actually occurred, which was Ash and Pikachu entering before Yolei pursued shortly then returned to bring Kari along. What Ken did was cut the last part and made it look like Yolei discovered something new and wanted to show Kari. It also made Ash look like a kidnapper. Davis and TK seemed outraged that someone would be in that world freely and take the girls for granted.

"You know who that boy is?" TK questioned. Davis shook his head, denying any information about Ash. He wasn't alone.

"While I have little knowledge of that intruder, I can give you the last coordinates of your women," Ken slyly pointed out. This made TK more uneasy. Why would their enemy provide information about where Kari and Yolei were last seen so freely? It sounded too good to be true. Davis looked, as though, any information given to him would help "save" the girls.

"What are you willing to accomplish?" TK wondered. Davis wanted to get moving to find Kari and Yolei.

"Who cares?!" he stormed. "What matters are those girls. Get Cody here while I get the coordinates." Being left no choice, TK got on a small white computer, typing frantically to reach this Cody.

"I have a bad feeling about this," the winged piglet groaned, worried that they would do something that they may regret. Meanwhile, back in desolate Pallet Town, Ash, Kari, Yolei and the creatures arrived at the one house that Yolei observed with the binoculars. Was this Prof. Oak's home? The gates were locked.

"Ash, not to sound like a snitch, but don't you think this is a bit excessive to trying to find the truth?" Hawkmon wondered with consequences on his birdbrain. Ash walked over to a stone pillar and lifted...a false brick? Inside was a key. Who knew that there was a hidden compartment within a pillar?

"Hawkmon, two things," Ash gruffed as he snatched the key from the compartment. "One, Prof. Oak and I are pretty good friends, despite the half-century age difference. And two, this is an emergency, which overrides any type of common breaking and entering." He used the key, unlocking the gates to grant access into the house. Inside, the group got upstairs to a computer geek's paradise. All sorts of technology at one's fingertips. Charizard, who came in when Team Rocket attacked his friend and the girls, flew in from the window, joining the rest at a big, _big_, computer, screen about 60 inches. "This is it." Ash activated the CCTV icon, popping up a screen to reveal a three-by-three grid of the different camera shots. No sudden activity. On the bottom of the grid, there was a blue strip with a ball at the end, and a timer reading "LIVE/4:04:00:00." That's rather unusual. Ash got to work on the keyboard, hitting a few keys. That's when the "LIVE" became "4:04:00:00/4:04:00:00." The red LED lights from the security cams turned off, meaning the cameras weren't in operation.

"Four days and four hours?" Yolei read?

"That's right. 100 hours of CCTV footage." In short, in Ash's world, there are 24 hours in a day, just like on Earth. Kari had an ominous feeling to Ash's information.

"I don't know if it's just me," she pictured. "But is it a coincidence that this world is possibly aligned to our world and the digital world?" It could be considered a coincidence but right now, it's not important. Using a mouse, Ash dragged the ball from right to left of the strip. The screen became black as it read "BUFFERING..."

"Give it a few minutes to buffer the whole scene. 100 hours of data stored into a computer like this won't be a snap." Four days plus-full of data...that sounded about right. Gatomon was awed by Ash's ways with computers, wondering how he knew so much at the age he looked.

"How are you so adapted to computers?" she pointed out. That was a pretty fascinating question. Ash wasn't worried about any false premonition with this amount of wonder.

"Well, a few years before I started my career as a Pokémon trainer, there were two things that I enjoyed, though helping my elders with computers became a hobby. At the tender age of seven, I knew every device, even helped assemble a few and learning it's components." Ash...a tinkering kid? Seriously?

"Should have had him around for a few of Izzy's equipment," Kari laughed. Yolei agreed giggling to the funny fact. Gatomon and Hawkmon groaned, disregarding the notion. That's when Kari felt something squishy coming from her foot. It was a weird squish. "I hope I'm not stepping on Charizard's droppings." Yolei and the creatures gazed upon Charizard, who saw something else. Kari thought twice about Charizard's disposal issues, but looked down to make sure. There, a pile of purplish sludge had smothered Kari's foot. Then, it..had a face!

("Boo!") it roared groggily. What the heck?! Scared, Kari screamed and leaped into the air, right onto Ash, knocking the chair of its wheels and ejecting the two to the hard upholstery floor. Ouch! Everyone, even the living clutter of garbage got worried that Ash and Kari were in pain.

"Ash, Kari you okay?" Yolei feared.

("Speak to us!") Pikachu called out. Kari recovered from that sudden tackle only to see that moving gunk again. Snap, she lifted Ash to a seating position in order to protect her from that muck. Ash was upset with Kari's brief jump until he felt the heavy shaking and saw the slimy living thing...and smiled.

"Relax, Kari, he's just being friendly," he calmly eased. Some way of being friendly. The pile acted very jolly to the scene. "Still hanging around without Tracy or the professor to smother, huh Muk?" Muk saddened when it heard the professor.

("Oak...gone,") it frowned. Pikachu and Charizard felt sympathy for Muk. However, something about this was off. The town was pretty much barren. Yolei suddenly had a hypothesis about Muk being here, but no one else.

"Ash, remember the headline?" she backtracked. "The citizens have been missing for over a day. What if the Pokémon are still around?" Fascinating! The Pokémon...here? Yolei was onto something, and Ash wanted to jump onto her bandwagon.

"There's a very likely possibility," he believed. "I'll go into the ranch to see if, by any chance, they're there." Pikachu and Charizard wanted to join, as was someone else.

"Is it alright if I come with?" Kari asked. A Digidestined, willing to see more Pokémon?

"Of course." Aw, that's so sweet of him. Yolei wanted to view the 100-hour tape, hoping to get to the bottom of this caper.

"I'll stay here and see what I can find," she chose. Ash wanted to see the tape for himself, but with assistance that the girls were providing, he didn't mind this move.

"Okay, Yolei. Hawkmon, Charizard, keep an eye on her and signal us if she finds something important."

"You got it," Hawkmon obeyed. Charizard went along with it, too. Acknowledging the agreements, Ash, Kari, Pikachu and Gatomon raced out of the lab and out the back door. They saw nothing...so far.

"So, approximately how many Pokémon are here in the ranch?" Kari wondered.

"I don't necessarily keep count," Ash admitted. "You see, we don't keep track of other trainers who've been enlisted under Prof. Oak under the scrutiny of jealousy and raucous concerns. Sort of a safety tactic." Okay, so no illegal Pokémon sharing details. They strolled to a lake, but didn't spot anything. Ash dunked his head, hoping to find something. He looked, but no sign. Head resurfacing, he wasn't happy that life was not existing. Whatever happened here, it really scared everyone and everything from the area, or worse. "Something is definitely amiss. Muk's here, but that's it." Kari placed a forgiving hand on Ash's shoulder, trying to tell him that it's going to be okay. Suddenly...

("Ash, is that you?") a grumbling voice echoed. The group turned to a small blue creature with a giant green bulb on its back. It ran up, happy Ash and Pikachu watching.

"Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur lunged into Ash, who embraced it in a hug. This was a happy sight. At least one more creature was found. "It's good to see you safe. Where are the rest?" That's when Bulbasaur's smile flipped. It instantly became worried.

("It took them.") It? Everyone looked toward each other, wondering who "it" was. Then, flames shot out of the lab's window. The group spotted the flames. Yolei must have found something.

"That's the signal," Gatomon noticed. They raced back to the lab and when they did, Yolei had the floor.

"As you know, yesterday, the entire town became abandoned," Yolei reviewed. "I did copy some pictures since Ash should be known to recognize them. Ash, if you could?" Using the mouse, Yolei double-clicked a clip, where there was a burly brunette man in a curly beard, a lab coat and sandals. Ash was familiar to this guy.

"That's Prof. Birch," he identified. Yolei bobbed a nod as she labeled his photo. Next photo: a younger raven-haired boy with glasses, wearing a green polo t-shirt and shorts. "Max, Caroline's son." Yolei was ready to go onto the next photo. This one had Prof. Oak with a brunette woman in a pink button-down shirt and whitish skirt. To Ash, this was embarrassing. "That's...my mom." That's his mother? Kari, Yolei, and the Digimon were flabbergasted.

"Y-y-your mom?" Yeah, who knew?

"I can't believe how young and beautiful your mom is, Ash," Kari awed. Flustered with the humility, all Ash could do was blush at the inspiring compliments of the girls. Yolei reclaimed the floor after she straightened out.

"Anyway, I was swiftly going through the moments leading up to the vanishing when I came upon this." She hit the play button to a sky view of the town, even seeing the sun. That's when a black formation began to overlap the sun.

"A solar eclipse?" The eclipse continued to over lap when suddenly, the pictures became lost in a snow of static, the picture degenerating.

"There was a 15 minute loss of film, and when the view was restored..." The picture was back on where there was no more activity amongst the roads. So, during those 15 minutes of missing film, there was a solar eclipse and that everyone and everything disappeared. The mystery deepened. What happened to that window of a quarter-hour that everyone vanished into thin air?

"15 minutes isn't a long time to dispatch an entire town," Gatomon offered some information.

"Even so, any sort of anomaly would convert to such a widespread amount," Ash pointed out. "Somehow, whoever jammed the frequency wanted to acknowledge a scare tactic that seemingly succeeded." A scare tactic...can someone provide an example? Yolei pondered on that basis of theory.

"If that's the case, then they may be in a confined area which we may have overlooked," Yolei hypothesized, before a brainstorm hit her. Was it something she said? She growled, like there was a prime suspect that they excluded before. "Like the tunnel to the DigiWorld!" Everyone's eyes widened. That cavern...how long had it been since it showed up. Kari heard her friend, knowing someone who would want to inflict harm.

"Ken, right?" she guessed. Yolei swung her head for a nod.

"Wouldn't let that guy alone for a second." Ash thought that this was unfair treatment and he had a reason not to suspect Ken.

"How can you guys be sure that Ken had something to do with the townspeople's disappearance?" he countered. "There's no definitive proof that he made everyone move out of Pallet." Yolei didn't seem too concern that Ash wasn't suspecting their enemy.

"Perhaps, but knowing those control rings that he keeps flinging around, the proof's in the pudding." Control rings? Still, Ash defended his word, saying that accusing Ken for the vanishings couldn't fit the crime. Yet, he had no idea about what caused Pallet to be deserted.

"I still say that this was too fast for Ken to roundup everyone in the short span of 15 minutes. What we need is something to 'defrost' all this snow and confirm the whereabouts of Pallet's people. None of Prof. Oak's machines can do that job." Immediately, Kari had an answer to that.

"We'll need Izzy for this task," she suggested. Izzy? Yolei was with Kari on that extent.

"Yeah, he's got what we need," she agreed. Majority decided, Ash chose to join instead of oppose the thought.

"Well, looks like a road trip for all of us," he surrendered with a smile. "Let's head out before Team Rocket tries to make an encore performance." That's a good point. All exited the lab and, eventually, Pallet Town, process on the cavern. As Ash reached the cavern sight...

"V-Head butt!" a voice screamed out. That's when a large blue bullet zipped at Ash. Making his best impression of a baseball base runner, Ash slid under the bullet, which was actually a grown blue imp like earlier. Coming out of the slide, Ash got on his feet as the imp ate dirt, face first. That's tasty. "Okay. That was a nice reflex." Thanks. Before Ash could puzzle what it was...

"You stay put, kid!" Davis ordered angrily. Ash turned, seeing Davis, TK, a short brunette boy, the winged piglet and...an armadillo? What happened to that yellow ball at the start? Davis was ready to take Ash to town, pun intended. He had no clue that Ash was innocent and that the girls weren't harmed. Could Ash be fighting his way to safety? Was Ken responsible for the disappearance of the townspeople?

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. Troubles & Plotters

_Chapter 5:Troubles & Plotters_

* * *

Ash was in a bind. As if the disappearances of the townspeople of Pallet weren't a big enough issue, he, now had to deal with the Digidestined males. TK and Davis saw an edited video of Ash entering a cavern which connected the DigiWorld to the world of Pokémon after Kari and Yolei. The truth was the other way around, having Kari and Yolei pursue Ash. Ash was hoping to meet someone named Izzy in his own pursuit to locate the missing townsfolk. Now, this. A failed attempt on an ambushed had stoked Ash to be on his guard. The blue imp that tried a "V-Head butt" rose onto his feet, blocking Ash's retreat. Ash evaded the attack with ease, not sitting too well with the others. "Veemon, you alright?" Davis called out. Veemon was fine, no need to worry.

"I'm good, Davis," it replied back. Ash had two names that connected amongst one another, remembering what he was told about Davis.

'So, he's Davis,' he pondered. 'He's not that bad on the outside, but from Kari, he is obsessive. I shouldn't mention the fact that I got a glimpse of Kari naked.' TK stepped up, willing to speak for his partner.

"Listen, we don't want any trouble," he explained. "All we want is the safe return of Kari and Yolei." Simple enough. Ash would be more than willing to bring back the girls. He was no kidnapper.

"They're on their way here, as I speak," he motioned. So, the reunion would take place in the immediate future. TK and the other boy felt that this was open and shut case.

"Well, that was easy." Sure was. Davis didn't feel the same way. He thought that some sort of lewd and villainous act had occurred during the time of the girls' sudden visit to this world and now.

"You're not getting out of this situation that fast!" Davis bellowed roughly. He had no proof, but felt highly suspicious of the easy return. "What did you do with them?" Already, Ash felt cornered. He didn't do anything to Kari or Yolei, nor even the Digimon. In fact, it was what they did to him.

"It's actually vice-versa," Ash tried to reason. He recalled Yolei putting him in a sleeper choke hold, knocking him into dreamland, then Kari having a wild Caterpie apply String Shot and wrapping him in a cocoon. Then, while waiting for the 100-hour video to buffer, Kari jumped in fear onto Ash, almost KO-ing him a second time when she got spooked by Ash's Muk. You could bet that this was karma on Ash for getting that brief peepshow. That's when the flying piglet spotted a group heading toward the scene. More importantly, the girls that they came to retrieve.

"Here they come!" it announced. Everyone turned, seeing the girls, Digimon, Bulbasaur, Caterpie, Muk, Charizard and Pikachu. Obviously worried, Pikachu wondered if Ash was okay. Kari and Yolei had to be questioning the purpose of the boys in the presence.

"What's going on?" Kari asked. The new arrivals stood behind Ash, a means of protecting him. Seeing the boys brought displeasure to her and Yolei. "Are you kidding me?"

"Davis, who told you to go through the DigiWorld without consent?" Yolei growled. It's possible that she won't take Ken's video as an excuse.

"My consent is me being the leader!" Davis protested "What I say overrules others!" You sure about that? The child disagreed after hearing Davis.

"Those were never mentioned in the guidelines," he rasped. Davis turned, not wanting a mutiny amongst each other.

"I don't want any backtalk, Cody." Still acting his defiant self, Davis directed his attention to the girls, both staying particularly close to the trainer. "Anyway, why are you being so protective to your kidnapper?" Now the girls were outraged. Davis labeled Ash as a kidnapper.

"K-k-kidnapper?!" Yolei hollered vengefully.

"Don't protect him, Yolei. We have the videotape." TK held up a CD, showing the proof. Ken's filming convinced Davis. Would Ash buy it? He had to wonder if this was truly Ash and the girls and not some stupid puppet show.

"This is the first that I heard someone recording something in the DigiWorld," he gulped. Kari was right there to offer support.

"There are cameras that are connected to monitors throughout the DigiWorld, much like Prof. Oak's CCTV cams," she explained. Okay on the analogy. Ash's thoughts began to focus back on the alleged video. Davis decided to ante up the chance at wanting to lynch Ash for his taking prisoners.

"When you see this video, you'll be sorry for taking Kari away from me," he proposed. Wait...Kari, but not Yolei? She was in the clip, too. Ash smiled, like he knew that this was no trial he couldn't win.

"Alright, Davey," he mocked. "If you're right, I'm your slave. But if I'm right, you'll be helping me." This was some serious bet. Davis was a bit unnerved with the wagering. He didn't anticipate a challenge over a video.

"I don't think Davis had this in mind," the armadillo murmured. "Ken's provision of the video's really testing his patience." Ken! Ash's mind began going into overdrive. The missing townspeople, the videotape...to Ash, the pieces started to assemble a picture that may have been an elaborate plot to ravage two forces to clash under the cunning eyes of a mastermind.

"It's all making sense, now." How's that?

("What do you mean, it's making sense?") Pikachu wondered. Everyone else began to think Ash was up to something.

"I could be wrong, but this was an ambush from the very beginning. While I was away to run that errand to Prof. Ivy, Ken had some of his enslaved Digimon dig a tunnel. By discovering this world, he tried to make his mark by terrorizing Pallet Town, which is my hometown, by the way, and rounded up not only the townsfolk but the Pokémon. Then after herding everyone through the tunnel, I happened to return with Pikachu and find the tunnel itself on pure accident, thus running into the DigiWorld, up to the tape. In other words, Ken's only putting up a dominance on all of us." In Ash's opinion, this was all about chaos. It seemed to fit with everyone...everyone except Davis. Still, TK reviewed Ash's long-winded hypothesis, especially the mark on the missing townspeople.

"I know Ken can be a maniacal genius, but I'm not sure what you're saying is plausible," TK differed. A maniacal genius could be dreadfully terrifying. Even Cody had to follow TK's wording.

"TK has a point," he mumbled. "For Ken to pull it off, he would've known about this place prior to plotting an invasion." It was a strong point. First thing came first, which was viewing the tape.

"We won't know unless we take a closer at this footage," Ash referred. Everyone got back to Prof. Oak's lab where Ash inserted the CD into a disc drive. Now, everyone watched and observed, prompting Gatomon to point out the truth.

"This is backwards of what really happened," she said. Although this was factual, no one could really tell officially whether this was genuine or fabricated...that is, until Bulbasaur saw the "wolf in sheep's clothing" reference. It extended a vine to the screen, where there was...a time stamp. Something about that time stamp caught the Pokémon's eyes.

"Why is Bulbasaur pointing to the timer?" the piglet wondered. TK watched the timer counting, when...it changed out of order from ahead to behind, like present to past.

"There's the proof, Patamon," he answered. "Gatomon was right, it _is_ backwards." Ash was off the hook, and decided to rub salt on this ploy's wound.

"For someone who's a maniacal genius, that was certainly stupid," he laughed. That's pretty ironic. Now that Ash was cleared of kidnapping, the first mystery resumed. Where did Pallet's townspeople disappear to?

"Well, now that we've cleared Ash of taking Kari and Yolei, what's our next move?" the armadillo asked.

"Well, we _were_ planning on seeing if Izzy would assist us in trying to find out what happened during the 15 minutes of film that was lost when there was a solar eclipse," Hawkmon exclaimed. They wasted enough time with all the runaround of back and forth. They needed to push on.

"You know, by the time this is over," Kari huffed. "We're gonna realize that the solution to this case will be under our noses." Like a case of should have seen it coming. A few didn't have that same sinking feeling.

"Don't be so sure, Kari," the armadillo disagreed.

"And what makes you say that, Armadillomon?" Armadillomon just said that the obvious wasn't so obvious, but couldn't really prove how.

"I just got that feeling in my shell. I can't really give details." Despite this setback, Cody knew that this squad had to be on guard.

"I think we should take Armadillomon's advice and be on alert," he warned. Everyone nodded, heeding the warning. The group returned to the cavern, entering post haste. They were all back into the DigiWorld. So, you could bet Ash's Pokémon could be talking like humans, right? Davis faced Ash, still distrustful of their brief ally.

"Look, I may be aware that you're looking for all of your neighbors, but don't think for a second that I'll have sympathy if Digimon attack you," he snorted. Jeez, Davis, do you have to be so harsh? Even TK and Kari thought Ash's tough treatment was over the line.

"Davis, are you still after him for discovering that connection to the DigiWorld?" TK argued. Davis wanted to beef with TK, but even he wanted to defend his say.

"Is it that obvious, TE? Without that finding, I would've been happy with Kari in the future." Groaning sighs fumed the scene. Davis was still after Kari, but enough was enough.

"Aren't you the emphasis of desire," Pikachu grumbled. "You go after Kari like Ash is after the title of Pokémon Master." What's with analogies today? Someone had to get this party on the straight path.

"Davis, TK, Pikachu, not important right now," Cody roared. "We need to get home and contact Izzy about the case." Thank you, Cody.

"Cody's right, guys," Armadillomon backed. "All this bickering is gonna waste time." The three calmed down, though still feeling argumentative to each other. They proceeded on, hoping to reach some sort of portal to take them to Earth.

"DigiWorld..." Muk gurgled. "Not bad place." Guess Muk had accepted the place, hopefully able to speak more normally.

"Didn't expect such vegetation to grow in a dank place," Bulbasaur awed. You might make this a second home. That's when they stumbled across a TV set...and stopped. Why?

"Like the cave that you found, Ash," Yolei emphasized. "These monitors are our way back to the real world, or our Earth. I'm not sure if a city north of Tokyo would best fit your lifestyle. You'd look more at home in Denver, Colorado, USA." Ash in the Mile High City?

"Why there instead of your homes?" he questioned. Yolei giggled, unsure of why.

"Just an opinion." Kari looked over to the far side, seemingly wanting to do something.

"You guys go ahead and get to Izzy's spot," she offered. "I gotta finish patrolling the area." She still had a job to do. Ash figured that she was still monitoring for Ken, now that he learned plenty.

"You sure, Kari?" TK questioned her decision.

"Well, yeah. I mean, considering that our patrol was suspended with the discovery of Ash's world, it's best that I check the rest. If that's all right with you guys." Iffy on this subject, everyone gazed upon each other, thinking that looking over the DigiWorld was pointless...unless you were Davis, who trusted Kari with the task.

"Just no more sidetracks, okay?" he forwarded. Kari nodded, consenting Davis' understanding. Ash had a feeling that Ken could pop out of nowhere and capture Kari and Gatomon. He turned to his big "man" for a mission of his own.

"Charizard, keep close tabs on Kari and make sure to help her in any way," he instructed.

"Got it, boss," Charizard grunted. How about that? Kari was receiving backup. Bulbasaur was wanting to stay too. It grew fond of this place.

"Hey, Ash," it called up. "Can I stay as well? I'm starting to like it here." Ash seemed looped. Would it hurt to leave two of his Pokémon here in the DigiWorld? Even Yolei had an issue with this.

"I don't think it's a wise idea," she doubted. "Considering that Ken may take a liking to the Pokémon, _if_ he hasn't already captured those in the ranch." Although going by Yolei's doubt, Ash was eager to back up the claims of his creatures.

"Perhaps, but keep in mind, _these_ Pokémon were personally trained," he cockily argued. "Of course, if you want real evidence of it, check my records." Some confidence he had. The Digimon seemed to trust Ash.

"Well, I'm sold," Veemon gulped. "If you did train that dragon of yours, my questions are answered." Kari sensed it, too, but had a different thought about his bolstering confidence.

"You've been more and more brazen since you kissed Yolei, from my point of view," Kari pointed out. Hiccuped, Ash lost all nerve while most of the rest were surprised. Was this goading due to kissing Yolei? Ash came back with what occurred before, which of course was...

"It's funny that you mention it, since you were the one who took my virgin lips prior," he slammed back. The surprised shrills of "WHAT?" echoed from the boys, learning that Ash got lucky with both women.

"Whoa, that's a twist," Patamon awed. Davis turned from stunned to steamed. He wanted Kari, from her statement, and that she kissed Ash, he was mad. He tried to grab Ash by the collar, wanting to deck him for his fortune. However...CLANK! Yolei grabbed a frying pan and clocked Davis by the side of the head. Davis crumpled to the digital dirt, out cold. Where did that pan come from?

"You can hurt him later," she advised. Man, the abuse of such. She jerked her head to Kari, a final heeding on thought. "Kari, be careful. We'll get a better understanding of this when it's available."

"Okay, Yolei," Kari responded as she, still having Caterpie on her shoulder, took off with Bulbasaur and Charizard following. TK wondered how Ash got to kiss Yolei. It seemed like no big deal.

"Is it alright if I ask how you were able to kiss Yolei?" he issued. "I mean, no one could be within three feet of Yolei without risking bodily harm." Now, it _was _a big deal. To TK, Ash passed through Yolei's "bubble" of three feet to kiss her.

"She reminded me of the surveillance cameras after hearing the report of the missing townspeople," he admitted. "Who knows. Maybe her mentioning of those cameras may break this case." Shunned thoughts bellowed from TK and Cody. They began to think that Yolei deserved that award. Right now, Ash was anxious to solve this caper. "Anyway, we need to let Izzy in on the details." All agreed, even the rising Davis. Yolei pointed a small device with a red rubber grip to the monitor.

"Ash, you may need to hold onto something," she warned. Ash did, by holding onto Yolei's free hand. Yolei blushed, but kept her composure. "Cute. DigiPort Open!" A flash of white light consumed the group. The flash was a second long, but when it dimmed, the rest were gone. Earth, here they come.

"Well, that's one way to travel," Charizard hummed. "Still, the fact that some good friends like Snorlax and Bayleef go missing, it leaves me worried about my old master." Bulbasaur agreed. Charizard and Ash were a good team to Bulbasaur, as much they were.

"Yeah, but it's still a pretty vicious slap in the face seeing Lugia and Ho-oh scramble everyone from a possible invasion," it hinted...Lugia? Ho-oh? "Not to mention a girl in blue aiding the desertion." A girl in blue? Lugia? Ho-oh? Ken wasn't involved? This was a wake up call with a dozen shots of espresso. Why didn't Muk and Bulbasaur go with the rest? Kari realized now that Ken was nowhere near fault, but still wondered on the hole that was created.

"So, this whole time, we're just running from the real problem?" Gatomon pondered. Was this a problem that Ash was not told about? "Why didn't you join your Pokémon friends with the evacuation?"

"Well, it happened so fast that I had no chance to react, so I hid, hoping someone would find me. That's when I saw some darkish winged creatures that I knew weren't Pokémon. The strongest attack I have is Solar Beam, but because of the eclipse..." Kari was quick with a guess.

"You couldn't store energy from the sun to use it," she theorized. Bulbasaur nodded, confirming Kari's suspicions. Suddenly...

"Then my timing was good, although I couldn't claim anything," Ken bellowed as he appeared from the sky on a giant black gargoyle-like monster. The four shot looks up, undeserving Ken's appearance.

"Ken! So, you _were_ the one who discovered the Pokémon World?!" Ken hopped off his ride, gazing down on Kari, Gatomon and Ash's veteran Pokémon with a snarling smirk.

"So what if I am? That white bird would've been a great asset to your destruction. Still, to discover such a quaint place and come out feeling refreshed, albeit with the eclipse and preventing sunburn from that shrimp plantation." Charizard and Bulbasaur growled, desiring to tear Ken limb from limb. Ken never broke his enthusiasm. "By the way, it's a great thing that you came back, Ms. Light...back into a trap." A trap? A snap of his fingers, and human/flower hybrids blossomed out, sticking their tulip-bloomed arms. That's when a giant plume of pollen sprayed out, quickly covering the area in a suffocating cloud of an allergic person's nightmare. Something became odd about the pollen, because in a minute, Kari and the creatures crumbled onto the grass, asleep. Ken snickered, thankful for a successful trap. "So, Pokémon, huh? My research will be fascinating." Kari, Gatomon, Charizard and Bulbasaur are in the villainous clutches of Ken. With Ash in the real world, would he be able to sense that his Pokémon are in danger? Other questions loom, like Lugia and Ho-oh's reasoning for being in Pallet Town and that girl in blue. Just when you thought this tale was closing in, it's been blown wide open.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	6. Alliance & Acquaintance

_Chapter 6: Alliance & Acquaintance_

* * *

This was disastrous. Ken, using a squadron of plant Digimon, pollened out Kari, Charizard, Bulbasaur and Gatomon. He couldn't have planned an ambush any better. Just moments before, Bulbasaur told Kari that the disappearance of the townspeople of Pallet was by an assault by Ken storming into town during a solar eclipse. However, a girl in blue seemed to have saved the day with the help of a Lugia and Ho-oh thwarting Ken's capturing attempt. This time, Ken's successful. "I think this was a tad too easy," he sneered. "Of course, I had the element of surprise. They're like deer in headlights." That reference? He knelt over to Charizard, a hard interest to turn down. "Using my rings, I may use this lethal dragon to my disposal." That could not be good. Don't worry...

"That's what you think, Emperor," growled someone from the oncoming distance. Ken spun around, eying three giant figures. One was a green ogre-like creatures with wild white hair and tattered jean shorts. The second was a white snowy bear, no mouth included. Not much else. The last was...THE HUMAN TORCH? Not quite but its body was consumed by fire.

"I think you need to leave the kid and creatures in better digital hands," the burning one mouthed. Ken was not appreciating the conceiting remarks, unaware of Caterpie sneaking from Kari's shirt.

"Oh, of course, Meramon," Ken gulled sarcastically at the fireman. "It'll take more than you three to stop my observations." Ken, if you were a genius, you would've clammed up and escape.

"String Shot!" Caterpie bellowed before snotting Ken in a cocoon of the String shot. Who's the element of surprise, now? Ken jerked around, spotting the seemingly harmless insect. "And you thought Kari came honestly." Well, she did. You just made your move in the right time.

"Why, you wretched-" Ken, the bear!

"Sub-Zero Ice Punch!" the snow bear shouted, stopping Ken's words and having a fist in the air. Here's the swing...POW! Right in the kisser. Ken crumbled to the ground, out from the shot and ice forming around the cheek. The ogre was impressed with how the bear connected the swing.

"Sora taught you some boxing techniques, Fridgimon?" it awed. "I mean, she's a superb athlete and all." Fridgimon walked over, picking Gatomon and Bulbasaur up.

"Let's not debate this, Ogremon. We need to evacuate before the Emperor wants a rematch." Good point. Meramon got Charizard in a carrying rack as Ogremon put Kari over his shoulder. Caterpie stayed attached to Kari, not willing to break away.

"You should be glad I didn't bring my club." Still, with the Pokémon in tow, the three escaped, leaving the tied-up and cold Ken behind. Meanwhile, the rest of the Digidestined, along with Ash, Pikachu and Muk were in the same computer room that Davis and TK were in a couple of chapters ago. Pikachu was playing with the little creatures that were also from the couple chapters, even Patamon. Muk was mellowing out nearby the trash bin. Not very enthusiastic. Ash looked out through the window, seeing people. More people than Pallet Town.

"Odaiba's pretty lively," he murmured. He missed his neighbors. Cody and the yellow ball...guess where...approached Ash, wondering if his state of mind was focused.

"Is everything okay, Ash?" Cody asked. Ash shot a look at the youngster, deeply concerned.

"Yeah, I just...needed to get that feeling." Yeah, that feeling to know that there was someone to turn to if there was a problem.

"You shouldn't get yourself discouraged," the yellow ball tried to cheer Ash up. "Besides, from all we know, your townspeople are in a safe environment away from any dangerous action." If that round guy was right, Ash was getting worried over nothing. Ash bit some of what the ball mentioned, but still had doubts on trusting too much of his word.

"I realize that...but at the same time, how can I be sure without any evidence to support your claim?" This was a tough question from the little talking ball.

"Upamon's right, you know," Cody retorted. "If any harm was done to the town, you would've known that you were thrown into safety by chance." He may not be too aware but he's right. Ash understood where the two were pointing toward, but even they couldn't get this eerie feeling from Ash.

"There may be one way to know for sure." That's to find them and verify. Davis came up to Ash, still sou about him being close to Kari.

"You may as well listen, Ash," Davis grumbled. "You may be a guess here, but there are a few guidelines that you need to follow." Guidelines? Ash could care less about the offering guidelines. He wanted to get the disc to Izzy.

"Dave, all I need to do is see Izzy. That's it." Talk about straightforward... Davis seemed convinced about getting his regards. Still, he retained the floor.

"Well, that's settled." His attention was directed at Yolei, holding a pink ball that was covered in feathers. "Yolei, you and Poromon head back and make sure that Kari is all right." Yolei seemed to have had enough of the DigiWorld for today.

"I'd rather take Ash to see Izzy, thank you very much," she respectively denied. No go for the Yo go. Sorry... Could Ash's kiss have had an influence on Yolei? Ash wanted to make sure that Kari was more than safe with the addition of extra help.

"That's okay, Yolei," he tried to reason. "I'll have TK guide me to Izzy's place." Why would Ash want to side with Davis on this, other than the fact that any escort to Izzy was good for him?

"See?" Davis smirked. "This guy's no idiot. He's safe in our hands." While that was true, Ash had to find something mischievous to say and remembering before with the early conversations with the girls, he knew what to word out.

"And on the other hand, it'll at least keep Davis away from Kari." Oops. Davis was trying to act like a leader and this was shot up. You think Davis appreciated that?

"What was that you mangy cobbler?!" he screeched at Ash. No. Sorry Davis. You opened yourself to that insult. Ash snickered, knowing that he asked for that.

"Hey, you said it yourself. You'd rather have Yolei go after Kari over you." TK and Pikachu watched on, unsure if Ash put Davis in his place or that Ash found a way for Davis to pursue Kari.

"This is gonna get ugly, no pun or rhetorical jokes requiring insertion," TK mumbled.

("No kidding,") Pikachu agreed. Davis, fed up with that backtalk, got to the computer screen, ready to return to the DigiWorld. TK saw this and prompted himself to back Davis up.

"I'll show that gut-less, cowardly trainer what I can do!" he bellowed as he got the portal set. Then, he stuck his arm out which held a device with a blue rubber grip. "Digiport open!" The flash shot up, consuming the two. The two with their creatures were gone, back to the digital world.

"He, obviously, can't take a joke," Ash grumbled. You were...joking? Ash turned to Yolei, wondering why she decided against returning to finish her shift. "Why didn't you wanna go and be beside Kari?" Yolei squinted nervously. Was it something to do from back at Pallet?

"I'm starting to think it was the kiss you gave her," Upamon guessed. Cody pondered his Digimon's reply, understanding his point of view.

"Doesn't sound too far-fetched," he figured. Yolei shook her head, willing to deny the allegations.

"I feel like it, okay?" she finally answered. Must be her period. Ash and Cody shot a look at each other the back at the confused Yolei. She had no such answer to back up her feeling. Even Pikachu thought her reaction to the question put her in mental harm's way.

("She likes Ash, I just know it,") it gleed. Yolei took a breath of air before she was able to talk again.

"Look, I wanna help get Pallet Town back to normal so that you can proceed on with your celebration, alright?" she summed up. "Being in the Top Eight of that tournament is nothing to take lightly." Well, no. It meant you would need to work harder to get better.

"Right," Ash snapped a reply. He pulled out a red/white ball with a button on the center. He pointed the ball at Muk. Why? "Okay, Muk. Return." A red beam zipped out, hitting Muk. That was when Muk turned into a beam of red light which flew back into the ball. Then, he placed the ball back on his belt. Neither Yolei or Cody wanted to question what happened. "You ready?" Yolei nodded. Cody...not so much.

"I'll wait here for the rest to return," he chose. Since convincing Cody was going to be futile, Yolei and Ash, joined by Pikachu and Poromon, leave the school. They proceeded down the Japanese roadside streets, full of young people, some in green school uniforms and some in business suits. If Ash had remained in Pallet Town, he'd be really lonely, thinking about how he could pass the time. Did he know other people in the Kanto Region that he could hang out with? Maybe he could've gone to Prof. Elm or head to the Orange Islands. Who knows, maybe Caroline would love Ash as a substitute child.

"You know, Ash," Yolei tried to talk. "You should be pretty lucky that I'm the one who's taking you to see Izzy." Ash was lucky?

"Why is that?" he wondered.

"I don't really trust Davis, knowing what we did to you. Besides, you tend to have the charm to lure even Sora or Mimi or any of the girls in the high school. Jeez, if I knew better, I would hire you to get Tai into a love that he would like." Ash smugged a grin, thinking that it was funny to hear about it. That's when someone new came into the scene.

"Give me one solid reason you would want Tai to hook up, Yolei?" she disagreed. Ash and Yolei jerked to see an older teen redhead in the female school uniform. Her hair was a tad longer than Kari's but nowhere near Yolei's.

"Oh, hey Sora. What's up?" Sora seemed pretty worn. Sweat dripped from her forehead.

"Just got done with Track. By the way, who's the kid and mouse? That's no Digimon I recognize." Now how could Sora tell if Pikachu wasn't a Digimon?

"There's a long story but we need to get to Izzy's place, pronto." Sora didn't seem to mind it. Why? Was she heading in the same direction?

"You too?" She was. To hear of even more company, Ash didn't mind this hiccup. "Why don't you explain along the way?" Of course they would. They were ready to head off to see Izzy, hoping to uncover the truth of the missing townspeople.

"We'd love to," Ash gladly replied. "It may help the situation. I'm Ash Ketchum, and this is actually my Pokémon, Pikachu." Pikachu flashed the peace sign, showing that it would cooperate with her and anyone else.

"Sora Takenouchi, but just Sora will be fine." Both she and Ash shook on the terms of respect, as did Pikachu. When Ash shook Sora's hand, he felt muscles that were tensed, confirming her word on exercise.

"You workout often?"

"Mostly. Besides being a Digidestined, I was a soccer player along with friends." She's a Digidestined too? Who else is? Izzy? "So, what's your story?" Ash wasn't about to hesitate among friends.

"I'm a Pokémon trainer who came from the Hoenn region back home at Pallet, but my hometown has been abandoned for some odd reason." He pulled out the disc that had the video data of the moments when the disappearance of everyone occurred. "This disc has the moment in which by a professor's security CCTV cameras captured the vanishings of the townspeople. Unfortunately, the sound card on his computer is shot and in need to be replaced. It's why I'm here." That wasn't all. Yolei decided to provide more detail.

"You see, there's a cave that's in the Server continent that connects the DigiWorld to his world," she added as she transformed a scowl at Ash. "Ash discovered it when he came back from running an errand and I have a feeling he saw Kari bathing during his first stint there." Oh crud muffins. Yolei figured out that Ash got a sneak peek at Kari cleansing herself with Hawkmon? What could he say or do? Finally, he uprighted himself, willing to get Yolei back on track and not the same ones that Sora ran on.

"Yolei, which is more important, seeing what's on that disc or your claim of voyeurism?" he grunted. "Let's try to keep things in perspective, please." To Ash, the truth of peeping at a naked Kari was pointless at this state of the story. Sora had to believe that disc held something that could stoke a possibility that Ken made some sort of invasion to round up prisoners.

"I agree," she said. "The cave that connects the two worlds sounds suspicious enough. Let's get over and show Izzy the disc." Right. Agreed. The three raced over to an apartment complex where a redhead male was inside working on some paperwork. He was in his school uniform, meaning he was doing his homework. Suddenly, a knock cracked his concentration.

"Izzy?" Yolei echoed. "You in?" The boy noticed the young feminine voice and walked over to the door.

"Right on time." Wait...he was expecting Yolei? He opened the door, seeing the group. "Yolei. I got Cody's e-mail that you were coming. Something about a mystery?" Yolei smugged a scorn, knowing better that news traveled fast.

"Yes, Izzy. It's urgent." Izzy stepped back, allowing the others to come in. Inside, Yolei introduced Izzy to Ash and Pikachu then the detail of the situation. Needless to say that Izzy's mind began to go into overdrive. It could explain the smoke billowing from his ears.

"Let's load the disc into the drive and see what I can pick up." Ash handed the disc over to Izzy who inserted it into a disc drive dish before pushing that in. It started to play. There were the people as mentioned before plus others. Ash's mother was talking to Max about something.

"Ash hasn't really turned down a challenge yet," he gloated. No wonder he's a tough opponent. "I don't think the Battle Frontier will pose any difficulty." Ash's mother giggled at Max's words.

"I think I played some sort of role in that behavior," she confessed with a shy smile. What role was that?

"What's your mom meaning by that?" Yolei questioned.

"She...was very adventurous and reckless in her youth," Ash opened. Like mother, like son. Yolei shuttered to the thought. It's no wonder why he's such skilled in a manor of departments. Back to the video. Prof. Birch entered the scene, watching the sky. Max and Ash's mother saw this, wondering what was up. That wasn't an attempt to do a pun.

"Prof. Birch?" Max called. Birch pointed up to the sun, though a thoughtless idea. You don't look directly into the sun.

"Guys, there's a solar eclipse!" he bellowed in excitement. Sure enough, shielding most of the sun from entering their eyes, they watched the sun being turned black. That's when the visual was lost in the snow. Was the audio? "Why so soon?" It wasn't lost but that couldn't disguise that notion. "We weren't suppose to have another for another five years."

"Yeah, this wasn't scheduled," Ash's mother agreed. Suddenly, evil female cackles drowned any heard audacity that it displayed.

"What the heck?" Max screeched.

"My, this is an unusual world," the new voice awed so villainously. Izzy cringed. Did that new voice ring a bell?

"LadyDevimon?" he labeled. Lady...Devimon? A Digimon?

"Who are you?!" Ash's mother hollered.

"Oh, don't worry about trying to figure my name," LadyDevimon sneered. "By the time I'm done, I'll move on." Her laughter began to tickle Ash's nerves, but these tickles weren't meant for laughing. Suddenly, an explosion echoed. What happened? "What the-" A loud screech was heard. Without visual, it was hard to determine what was going on.

"Is that a Lugia?" Max shouted. Lugia! Ash heard it, but couldn't make a detrimental belief. A moment of silence, before another caw sounded.

"A Ho-oh?!" Birch noticed. Ho-oh? Ash and Pikachu were shocked. Why?

"Ho...oh?" he repeated. Did he know of Ho-oh? Sora saw the panicked face on Ash, thinking something happened to him with a Ho-oh.

"You know about that Ho-oh?" she asked. Ash was stiff as a flagpole. He quivered. Something horrible occurred between Ash and whatever Ho-oh was.

"Ho-oh was the first legendary Pokémon that I saw, long before Lugia, Entei, Unown, even the three birds of elemental balance: Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno. When I first laid eyes on Ho-oh, it was embedded in gold. Of course, at the time, I had no such clue that it was a Ho-oh until I met Morty who told me about it." So, Ash held a special bond to this Ho-oh. "I saw Ho-oh again as it flew to the Hoenn Region, where I went before this all happened." This was some serious impact for Ash to hear that this Ho-oh invaded Pallet Town but for what? Saving the townspeople?

"LadyDevimon is bad news, because it's a virus Digimon," Izzy explained. "I think that Ho-oh and Lugia came to protect the townspeople from her." If that's a fact, then they either failed or had some more help. Ash bought some of Izzy's pointers, but wasn't confident about what may have led to the townspeople's abandonment. The tape continued, no visual still, but something else.

"People of Pallet Town!" yet another female bellowed to the crowd. Ash shot up, recognizing the voice.

"Princess?" he shrieked. Princess?

"Allow me to lead you to safety!" The audio was mixing with all sorts of sounds, which died down to nothing. Ash was freaking out as the "snow" lifted from the screen. Izzy stopped the tape. Ash felt confused, berated, betrayed, just nowhere near his perky self.

"What are you doing away from your kingdom, Sarah?" Sora, Yolei and Izzy were helpless to aid the stunned trainer. Could a return trip be necessary? Ash wanted to find his neighbors, but now, going back may put his life in danger. Could he still want to find the townspeople...even with the evidence of struggle heard loud and clear?

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	7. Betrayal & Regroup

_Chapter 7: Betrayal & Regroup_

* * *

Ash couldn't believe his ears. Yes, his ears, not eyes. He heard the sounds of his mother, his friends...and someone named Sara. The noises Ho-oh and Lugia began to trouble Ash. However, none more than the voice of Sara. While Ash tried to weigh the concept of someone he knew, back in the DigiWorld, Kari, Charizard, Bulbasasur and Gatomon were waking up. After being pollened a couple of chapters ago by Ken, it was a relief that they would be in fine shape. Though, they were rather delirious. "Oh, boy," Charizard groaned. "That was some powder that we were hit with." Not powder...pollen. The group looked around, noticing that they were in a cave, not the cave that connected the DigiWorld and the Pokémon World. Immediately, Kari feared the worst.

"Great, we've been captured," Kari mumbled, worried that no one was going to help them. However, she was about to get the news that should brighten her, and the creatures' day.

"Perhaps, but luckily, not by the Digimon Emperor," Fridgemon applied as he, Meramon and Ogremon entered. Kari and Gatomon were happy to see these three. Charizard and Bulbasaur gawked in surprise. They were helped out of the situation by three brute Digimon.

"Well, I'd rather have a virus Digimon rescuing us than having Ken being our watchdog," Gatomon gleed. Kind of ironic for a virus-type.

"We're just lucky that we came by when we did," Ogremon grinned...but looked a little concern. He looked over to Caterpie, laying on Kari's lap.

"Something about that caterpillar is beginning to scare me, and I'm a living human-shaped flame," Meramon hinted in a bit of fear. Caterpie was looking extremely fatigued. Kari, Bulbasaur and Charizard shot looks at Caterpie, worried about its health.

"Caterpie?" Kari gasped. The breathing became labored. This was far from a good sign..._too_ far.

"I'm sorry, Kari," it whimpered. "It's time for me." Time? No! Not you!

"You can't! We're gonna get you help!" Instantly, Caterpie shook its head. That's when Bulbasaur realized something, but let's hope it didn't involve this Pokémon dying.

"Kari, it's okay," it advised. "This is normal." Oh, crud...Everyone, please pray for poor, young, heroic Caterpie as it prepares for... "I've seen this happen before at Oak's ranch. There's nothing we can do." Thanks Bulbasaur for setting the mood. Caterpie pointed its head up and fired its patent String Shot. The silky string started to entwine Caterpie, who remained still, accepting this destiny. Everyone watched, helpless to try and intervene. Finally, Caterpie was consumed in its own string, a make-shift cocoon.

"Caterpie..." No use. That's when the cocoon emitted light. The shine covered the wrapping. After a few seconds, the glow stopped. It was a green cocoon with yellow eyes. No arms, no legs. Kari and the Digimon gazed at this new form of Caterpie. Bulbasaur? What's with that easy smile? You're creeping us out.

"Well, it'll be a while before I can move freely," it muttered. It's...okay? Anyone have any idea what's going on? Bulbasaur?

"You've got a week, Metapod," it noted. A...week? Metapod?

"Met...a...pod?" Kari quivered. Chaizard nodded. How did Caterpie become a Metapod?

"Caterpie evolved into Metapod," it mentioned. "In a week, it will become a Butterfree." Evolved? Kari clutched the Metapod, still hoping that it was the Caterpie that resided when she first popped up nearby the still emptied Pallet Town.

"You're still Caterpie? The one who tickled me on first sight?"

"It's still me," Metapod answered. "I'm growing up." Tears of joy racing down her face, Kari embraced Metapod in a hug. Aw, that was wonderful. Ogremon smiled, recovered from that moment of panic.

"Imagine that," he gruffed. "Here we are, getting worried over nothing." Yeah, no real reason to panic. Well, probably the shock value. Before long...

"Kari!" sounded Davis. Everyone turned to the sound as Davis and TK entered the cave. Don't forget Veemon and Patamon. Davis rested a few feet from Kari, noticing the Metapod, as did TK.

"Hey, guys," Kari greeted the two nonchalantly. "Why the visit?" TK knew that Kari was okay, but had to wonder why she was smugging her attitude.

"Well, we saw your D-3's beacon, seeing that you were away from our assigned post," he clarified. That's when he saw the three Digimon, figuring that they weren't in Ken's grips. "And I've noticed that you were a bit busy." TK had no clue that Kari was nearly caught _by_ Ken, along with Ash's Pokémon.

"Actually, we were close to apprehension when Ken ambushed us," Bulbasaur cleared up with an apologetic expression. "I let Ash down more than once lately." More than once? Charizard was a bit surprised with this confession.

"How did you let Ash down twice?" Veemon questioned. Kari recalled the conversation just before Ken's attack. There _were_ two incidents that Bulbasaur felt sorry for.

"You couldn't protect the Pokémon and you couldn't protect me," she answered. Bulbasaur nodded, unwilling to let himself live in such grief. Gatomon patted Bulbasaur on the bulb, saying it's okay. Davis felt happy to know that everyone was in good shape, even for Ash's sake.

"Well, Ash should be happy that his beasts are in tip-top shape," he gloated. TK and Kari were a little surprised with Davis's behavior. He had something going with Ash that would make Patamon feel uneasy.

"What's the sudden change in gratitude for Ash?" it asked. "You first berate him for something that Ken lured you with, and now you're giving him respect the size of Whamon." Yeah, that was a bit uneasy for anyone to take Davis's words, should he give a valuable reason.

"Hey, I'm just showing some support to ease him of his loneliness. It's not everyday that someone comes home to find his hometown abandoned like his house." It was a false courtesy. Hopes that a great friendship between Ash and Davis dashed among that premise, everyone gave Davis the stink-eyes, not believing his excuse.

"And here I was, thinking that Ash may be a Digidestined, himself," Meramon mumbled. Ash, Digidestined member? TK wanted to get everyone back on track.

"Well, we should get going back," he motioned. The humans, Pokémon and Gatomon agreed and ran out of the cave...Metapod still in Kari's arms. Meanwhile, back with Ash, Sora, Yolei and Izzy, and Pikachu and Poromon. Ash was feeling the pressure of believing the sounds of Sara, Ho-oh, Lugia and someone else...LadyDevimon. An attack on the town and some things popping into audio. He began to lose it all, his bladder not one of them. The unnerving quivers made the others worry that a troubling childhood played a part in this form of distress.

"Ash?" Sora called, wishing to break him from that catatonic state. "Are you alright?" Apparently, no. Izzy watched on, scrambling his mind to think of something to break Ash's ice. Yolei got behind Ash, willing to attempt something to help break Ash from his self-clench. Before she could try and chop his spine...

"I...don't know if...it's what I think," he stuttered. Yolei never set herself to smack Ash. She got back around, placing a hand on his forehead. Ash didn't establish her presence. Okay, let's apply force. She shot her arm forward, sending Ash's head back...as well as the rest of his body as he flattened to the floor. "Ouch!" That had to work. To Izzy, maybe a little much.

"That wasn't really necessary," he hiccuped. Ash got up to a seating position, rubbing down the back of his head. Ash acted back to normal.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "There's just...so much that I'm getting, but at the same time it's not making too much sense." Something about this wasn't settling with Ash, and now the rest began to understand.

"Well, why don't we start from the top?" Sora suggested. "It could help with what needs to be done." She had a point. Ash stood up, already feeling the heat from the investigation. He needed to illustrate the tension that gripped his mind in a bind of panic and anguish.

"Well, there are three Lugias that I know of, along with a Ho-oh and Princess Sara." Sara's a princess? Who saw _that_ coming? "In the Orange Archipelago, by the shrine of the Chosen One's Treasures, a Lugia is there, more known as the Guardian of the Sea. Besides his duties to maintain peace amongst the legendary birds of fire, ice and lightning: Moltres, Articuno and Zapdos, he has telepathy." Telepathy? What's that?

"They speak from the mind?" Poromon guessed.

"That's right. Furthermore, when I was there, a festival was taking place for the chosen one. Considering that my name happened to be part of the legend of this beast of the sea, I had no choice but to complete the legend, nearly losing my life in the process. The other two Lugias were a mother and a child named Silver that I met at the Whirl Islands. Team Rocket tried to capture the two, and were successful until we freed them and trust me. It was no small task. By the way, those two didn't have telepathy, if you were gonna ask." Oh, never mind. That's when the focus was on Sara.

"What about this princess?" Yolei brought up. "She's...not a Pokémon, is she?" That...would be startling to find out.

"No, she's human." Whew...hate to find out the hard way. "She's the next heir to the Mirage Kingdom in the Hoenn Region, which also protects the Togepi Paradise. Yolei, you remember the trio who dug the hole for us to pit in?" Yolei thought back a few chapters...uh, the other time when she was with Kari and Ash. Of course, those two and that Meowth!

"You mean Jessie and James?" she figured out.

"Right. They captured my friend, Misty and her Togepi so that their client, Colonel Hanson would reign supreme, but we found out that there was a Princess, Sara, who had taken care of Misty's Togepi when they were separated. It was later learned that the heir to the kingdom needed a Togepi to help ascend the throne. It was during our battle with Col. Hanson that Togepi evolved to Togetic and helped us defeat Hanson. All those times, Misty's been with me and Pikachu. I don't really know if it's a sign that maybe Misty and I were meant to be together. That, or maybe I'm thinking way too hard on it." Well, calm down from your thoughts. Because Ash had admitted to probably thinking too much, Yolei had to fold her elbows, resting her wrists to her waist.

"You are aware that excessiveness on thinking is Izzy's job, right?" she teased. Poking fun at the intelligent kid? Seriously, Yolei...

"Yolei!" Izzy stormed at the mocking. Yolei, Sora, Pikachu and Poromon laughed at the joke. Ash? Never cracked a smile. This was a serious matter. He proceeded to the door...and walked out. This no longer became a laughing matter, because everyone had ceased their giggles. Great work, you snickered Ash away. Ash wandered the city streets, his mind more cluttered with the notice of more people. He walked, seeing people young and old talking with one another. If only the townspeople of Pallet were still around, chatting as friends would, help out, seeing and greeting neighbors...talk about missing the good old days. Charizard and Bulbasaur flew by, spotting Ash as he gazed upon a small shack-like cart. There was a chef working on bowls of stews and soups...the sign on top read "Ramen Side-Stop." Ramen? Ash had gone over to see the shop, eying the menu and... 70¥ for the special? 30¥ for Shark-Fin soup? This was cheap.

"Can I help you?" the brash chef growled. Ash knew what he wanted. He dug into his pocket where...he's got a lot of money! He's rich!

"Your special, please?" he requested. The chef, still snarling a bit like a bulldog, smiled. Was he expecting Ash to make that choice?

"You got it." He went to work on the special as Bulbasaur and Charizard arrived on land. Ash turned to his creatures, glad to see them okay.

"Charizard, Bulbasaur, how are you guys doing?" Charizard growled, complaining of the sneak attack that Ken coordinated. Ash believed his flaming lizard. "That bad, huh? Well, I did receive some disturbing news, and I'm not sure you're gonna like it." You could bet that they know the story.

("If you mean Lugia, we already know,") Bulbasaur acknowledged. Ash understood the plant/animal hybrid, referring to being on the same subject. Ash had to think that Charizard and Bulbasaur were exhausted...and a bit hungry.

"By the way, you guys like some ramen?" Both Pokémon gazed interesting looks upon each other, curious to know what Ash had opened them to. Charizard looked at the menu, noting the Shark-Fin soup and Bulbasaur undecided.

("See if whoever is in charge has anything vegetarian.") Not much of an omnivore, Bulbasaur was.

("And I'll take the fins,") Charizard ordered. Shark-Fin soup it is. Listening, Ash was ready to add to the orders. He turned back to the chef.

"Excuse me," he spoke. "Could I also have an order of Shark-Fin and...do you have anything without meat?"

"I have the Gardener soup," the chef answered swiftly. "Why the extra orders?" His Pokémon wanted to refresh themselves.

"A couple of buddies that I gotta feed." The chef laughed, thinking that Ash lost a wager and had to pay for the food.

"Okay, I hear ya." A little while later, three pipping hot bowls of noodle soup were offered to Ash but due to the angle, there's no way to describe what they looked like. Oh, well. After the meal, Ash recalled his Pokémon into their balls as he continued his stroll through the city. Cars whizzed below Ash, standing on an overpass bridge. The cars passing by, he reminded himself of all the journeys that he had back at his world. Kari spotted Ash on the bridge, looking so lonely, like how he was when he arrived in Pallet Town from his errand. She climbed the steps to reach Ash, things wanting to get off of her flat chest.

"Even when you're not on an adventure, do you wander everywhere?" she boasted. Ash heard and turned to the brunette. She walked to his side, an open book with blank pages.

"Are you saying that I should remain in one place at all times?" he sneered. Kari chuckled, a humorous sign that she was still okay. It was safe to say that Charizard and Bulbasaur told Ash about what happened in the DigiWorld. "So, that Caterpie evolved into Metapod?" Kari nodded. Hey, she thought Caterpie was going to die.

"He did give me a scare. I should rely on Bulbasaur more often." Not really one of the reasons Ash was a great trainer, but it didn't deter him. What did was from the audio recording. "By the way, Cody told me about the audio that you got to hear alongside Yolei and Izzy. You've got some sorta dilemma on your shoulders." It was a pretty big dilemma.

"It's not a cakewalk, that's for sure. To learn that those responsible were those that I trust..." The sigh of betrayal. Kari began to show concern. "I mean, what if one of your Digidestined teammates started backstabbing you? Not being offensive, but you do look like someone who'd be greatly hurt, physically and emotionally, when you realize why." Kari mulled the thought of being betrayed by her friends. She was such a kindhearted girl to be distrusted by her peers.

"You saying that it's happened to you in the past?" With Ash bringing the possibility of betrayal, he had to have instances of such cold acts.

"A few times, one involving Prof. Oak's grandson, Gary. We were best friends until it was time to become trainers. He began to mouth off that he was better at Pokémon than I was. We were great friends and one little squabble..." Enough said. Kari got the message.

"Sorry I asked." She wasn't the only one who needed to apologize.

"No, my fault for bringing it up." Both shared some giggles. Ash began his plot for his return. "Well, we need to get in touch with Prof. Elm over in New Bark Town and over to Shamuti Isle to see the telepathic Lugia about where everyone's gone." He wanted to make a few trips to let everyone know that he was alright and see if this Lugia knew the location of the townspeople. Kari recognized the confidence being reborn. If there was someone who can close this personal case, Ash would accomplish the aggravation. That's when Kari decided to change the subject.

"It's good to see you back to yourself. Is it okay if I ask a question?" Ash nodded. "What do you see in Yolei?" Huh... Good question. Let's see. If we can backtrack, Yolei spotted Ash in the DigiWorld at the start. Next, she put Ash in a sleeper hold, choking him to dreamland. So far, somewhat jumpy and violent. Later, she got a wet one from Ash when she hinted the cameras and helped Ash with the video recording. Lastly, she assisted Ash over to Izzy's place. First, she's hostile, then she's a sweetheart. However, to Ash, Yolei was only seen as a friend.

"It was...me overreacting. I can't really say that I've fallen for her." That's a twist. "I...don't see myself as a romantic heartthrob. I'm a trainer. I travel the regions to be the best. Hunting, capturing and training Pokémon, battling and competing against other trainers...that was suppose to be the daily grind that I was hoping to be comfortable with. And yet, here I am, being a detective in a multi-person missing/abduction case in a new world. Life can be an adventure on its own." Truer words couldn't be more well spoken. "I only hope that as soon as we're done, I can resume my passion to be a master." He was ready to continue the voyage of his dreams...as long as some others don't send him to dreamland. Kari kept feeling the ever-growing confidence billowing from his spirit. However, she sensed something wrong with Ash's background.

"I don't know. I think you're contradicting something," she sneered as she approached Ash. Ash turned to face Kari, which may have been what she was wanting. Leaning in...SMOOCH! Kari connected lips with Ash and she didn't want to let him go. Ash wanted to part lips but thought otherwise. As they were making out on the bridge...

"Kari, you're making me jealous," was the sound of a male. It wasn't TK. Nowhere close to Davis and too old to be Cody. Ash and Kari turned to another wild-hair brunette man in a blue spring jacket and chord pants. "I can't get that lucky with Mimi or Sora." Ash had no idea who this guy was, but Kari did.

"Sorry about that, Tai," she grinned. "I just came out with my feelings." Ash hiccuped. If that was her feelings... this could get complicated. Tai swiveled his head in some dismay..

"Only you, sister." Sister? Kari and Tai were related? "Well, let's get home. If you wanna come with, kid, you're more than welcome." Hospitality. Ash needed something like that after everything beforehand.

"Thanks," Ash accepted. "I'm gonna need some time to prepare for the trip back and solve my dilemma." Tai had to wonder about what meant by his dilemma.

"What dilemma?"

"We'll tell you when we get back," Kari entrusted. Tai agreed, allowing them to go to the siblings' home. Ash looked up to the nighttime sky, planning for the visits to a few areas. Let's hope that everyone from Pallet Town was alright.

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TO BE CONTINUED...


	8. Begin & Beyond

_Chapter 8: Begin and Beyond_

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The morning rose in Japan. Spending the night at Kari's place, Ash's mind had sharpened to a point that a spartan could skewer a Persian, humans not Pokémon. The Digidestined reported to the computer room in the school, Ash and Kari waiting. Seeing this steamed Davis so boiled, you could put a tea kettle on his head. Should take about three minutes. "What the heck are you doing with Kari?!" he roared. Ash and Kari turned, not quite phased with Davis' shouting.

"Just coming up with a plan," Kari answered. Yeah, nothing really going on between the two. Well, actually that's a lie. Last night, Kari had asked why Ash had feelings for Yolei, who came in with Pikachu. The truth was that he didn't have any. The only reason Ash gave a little love to Yolei was that he jumped a reaction to a quick evidence-finder she brought up: the CCTV cameras. Realizing that his words were the truth, Kari took advantage and landed another piece of romance onto Ash's lips. The first time was to stir Ash from submitting his consciousness to the sleeper hold. This time around, Ash got it full-stride and awake. Right now, Davis didn't believe in what Kari muttered.

"How do I know that you're just coming up with a strategy and not trying to get into his jeans?" It could be that the jeans would be too big for Kari. That or Yolei's vicious glare at Davis could tell him to shut up.

"What did I tell you, Davis," Ash scorned. "This is about the townspeople, not about falling in love with any of girls or engaging in something that would kick you off the team." Interesting statement. Much to Yolei's word, Davis didn't appreciate the backtalk Ash spoke.

"Even when we brought you here, you've been nothing but a pain in the neck." Davis, you're about to understand a pain in the neck. No, worse than just the neck.

"Pikachu?" Yolei called. On cue, Pikachu fired electricity from its cheeks, zapping Davis. Shaking, screaming and feeling thousands of volts coursing through his body, Davis couldn't escape this shocking punishment. Ten seconds passed when Pikachu stopped it's re-volt, allowing Davis to flop down. Bet you he'll think twice before shooting nonsense.

"You don't take backtalk lightly, do you?" Gatomon murmured.

("Just defending my master, nothing much,") Pikachu sneered. Well, Pikachu, you're doing such a stupendous job. Back to the topic...

"So, anyway, what's the back story with the video?" Cody asked. Ash stood up, ready to address the dilemma ahead.

"Well, the reason why Pallet Town had become emptied is because of a couple Pokémon that I know," he opened. "However, it's not as straightforward as you might think. It turns out that Ken sneaked a peek after the battle between the Pokémon and a Digimon known as LadyDevimon." TK's face went pale with dismay. An old enemy perhaps?

"From the audio that was taken from the video, as Ash had listened to, it sounds like LadyDevimon may have been responsible for the hole," Kari referred. "In hindsight, she saw this as an opportunity to cause havoc and chaos with Ken being an unintended scapegoat. Anyway, the Pokémon that helped were Ho-oh and Lugia, with a lady named Sara in the mix." For TK, Cody and the uninspired Davis, this was new to them. "While there may be one Ho-oh that Ash would know, there are also three Lugias to go along, thus, we enter the fray." Why did all three Lugias need to be mentioned? Was one of them responsible for evacuating Pallet Town? Did all three play a part?

"So, what's the idea?" Upamon wondered. There had to be a plan and Ash would answer the call.

"First, we head back to my world," he motioned. "Then, we'll split into two cells for each destination." He walked over to a computer where he pulled out a yellow hand-held device with a small screen in the front. Then, he hooked it up to the computer where the screen revealed an overhead map. Was this the overview of Ash's world. "A blessing in disguise that Max loaned me his Pokénav when I left to see Prof. Ivy. I bet Brock is huddling in the corner in depression mode." Not a good idea to tease a close friend like that. Everyone huddled, wondering and not depressing, around Ash. His computer skills were in full stride again. He directed the mouse, not Pikachu, over to a portion of green below a rather medium sized square with the label of "PALLET TOWN" adjacent to it. "As we all know, this is the gate that binds the Pokémon and Digimon worlds." He shifted the mouse over, scrolling the screen to the right with more green until it was by another square, named "NEW BARK TOWN." Why New Bark Town?

"This isn't really a time to woof up a joke," Davis grumbled. Woof up a joke? Davis, that's a pun, not a joke.

"Who would make pathetic jokes at a time like this? We'll need a team to traverse to New Bark Town and get a chance to get info on where Lugia and Silver were and if either had any help with the evacuation." Then, he scrolled diagonally down and left to a cache of green over blue...islands. "The second team will proceed to Shamouti Island and confront the other Lugia. Afterwards, we meet back at my house for further detailing." Sounded like a plan. Davis proceeded to nod, confirming the idea.

"I may not be into mysteries, preferably because I see myself as a soccer god," he gloated. "But I'm a great sport of teamwork. I'll have you take Yolei and TE over to Shammy while Kari, Cody and I hunker over in New Bark Town." Seemed as though Davis supported a female to go with Ash, but not the female who liked him more than the other. Even the cute imp had to stay on Davis' side.

"I'd like the idea," it chirped. "I mean, I can significantly run fast, but don't have fins or wings." Yeah, you're just a cute little...you know, it's hard to be argumentative to something like that.

"I appreciate that you wanna assign teams, Davis," Kari chuckled. "However, considering the circumstances, I was in charge of cell organization. So, I did it this way. Davis, you will be with TK and Yolei over to New Bark Town. In the meantime, I will have Ash and Cody accompanied over to the shrine on Shamouti Isle." Ouch! Daivs got rejected. He wanted to have Kari by him, but was assigned Yolei instead. Man, he was fuming.

"W-w-w-w-what gives you the right to overrule my decisions?" he roared whining.

"The fact that I'm the younger sister of the leader of the first-generation Digidestined, that's how." Okay, but explain to us that backbone that you have? Ash and the Digimon were a tad shocked with Kari's rambunctious attitude toward Davis.

"Was Kari always this way regarding Davis?" he questioned himself. None of the Digimon would have any idea, not even Pikachu. Finally, he voiced up. "Look, argue all you want, but let's take care of this first." This was more important. Everyone kept a clear head, knowing that the lives of the townspeople of Pallet were at stake. TK stood forward, his D-3 pointed at the screen.

"Alright everyone," he sounded. "Digiport open!" The flash from before lit the room. As it dimmed, everyone was gone. Ten minutes after entering the DigiWorld, everyone reappeared at the cave's entrance, back near Pallet Town. As planned, Ash, Kari, Cody and their creatures proceeded south to the islands. Yolei, TK, Davis and their Digimon scampered to the west, onward to New Bark Town.

An hour had passed when everyone split to their respective destinations. Since Ash's trip would take longer, let's spend some time with Davis's band as they made it to the town west of Pallet. The sign that was posted by the entrance to town said it all.

"WELCOME TO NEW BARK TOWN, WHERE WINDS OF NEW BEGINNINGS GUSTS."

This was the town...and it was lively, much more than Pallet. Townspeople flocked throughout the streets doing their own personal businesses like shopping, dining, or merely conversation. "This is the place," Hawkmon acknowledged. Yolei was anxious to be here and see Elm for herself. Same could be said for Davis.

"Well, let's go find this Prof. Elm and report back," he motioned as he started to sprint into town. Did he even know where Prof. Elm was?

"Hold on there, tiger," TK called, stopping Davis short of the town limits. "Do you have any idea where Prof. Elm's lab is?" Hearing TK made Davis lose a good portion of his nerves. This was no exception as he angrily turned back to the others.

"Of course I do, TC! In the town." Right but what about specifically? "I bet you we'll find it if we look hard enough." That's a good indication that he _didn't_ know where the lab was. Yolei sighed, frustrated with Davis's headstrong approach.

"This is why I have a detailed map," she groaned. "Apparently, Kari knew you'd rush into the situation without a clue." Davis couldn't believe that his leader status was taking no effect with his partners and that he felt like an idiot in trusting his headlong approach. Plus, hearing that Kari looked into the matter and not TK or Ash, he complied.

"Well, if Kari dug it up, I guess I'll go with it." Allowing the one with the map, Davis let Yolei lead. About 15 minutes later, they arrived at a large brown duplex with a fence, just like Prof. Oak's house.

"Is this really where Prof. Elm lives in?" Veemon questioned Yolei's navigating skills.

"This would be it," she replied. "Now, all we need to do is see him." Easier said than done. How can you confront someone who probably won't believe that Ash wasn't taken like one of his predecessors? Even more, there was a note and Patamon picked it from the doorway, giving to who else but TK.

"Check this out," it pointed as TK examined it.

"The note says that he's over at the Pokémon Center attending to a-" TK stopped when he read something that made his heart skip a beat. "No way!" Everyone wondered what the note read and why TK was freaked by it.

"TX, what?" Davis barked.

"There's a wounded Lugia that he's trying to aid." Gasps echoed in the confined open room. Elm was attending an injured creature nearby.

"Ash told me that the center had a large red 'P' on the front," Yolei remembered. "And I saw one in the middle of town. That's gotta be where Prof. Elm is." Nods of confirmation told the troupe to get to the Center. A few minutes passed when they got to the Pokémon Center. There, a young ponytail redhead adult female in a white tank-top and jeans was trying to comfort a young grayish-brunette boy in a white t-shirt and swimming trunks and a silver bird-like creature which was about as big as the boy. The bird had blue scaled linings around its eyes and spots on his back. Was that a Lugia?

"It'll be okay, Oliver," the redhead spoke of concern. The kid, Oliver, failed to fathom what happened, which might be that wounded Lugia. Yolei approached the two, starting to get a picture of what had occurred. She knelt to the silver bird, petting it between the eyes. The redhead noticed Yolei's caressing hand stroking the bird, which felt more at ease. "I'm sorry about this. Silver's mother had been attacked." Silver?! The baby Lugia. Hearing that the mother was harmed meant that she fought something off and got hurt doing it. That's when electronic sliding doors opened. Coming through the doors were a young pink-pigtail woman in a rather revealing nurse's uniform. The other was none other than Prof. Elm. The four in the heart wrenching huddle saw the two, hoping that the mother would be alright. Heartbreak. Elm dipped his head, shaking in disgrace. It was tragic.

"I'm sorry, Luka," the nurse sorrowed. "She succumbed to her injuries." NO! The mother died. Oliver screamed his cries which startled TK and Davis. Davis was a little ticked with that scream, but was angered at the sick individual who ended the life of a mother, human or otherwise.

"This is beyond humanity in most of the word," TK growled. Most because this wasn't about a human.

"LadyDevimon's handy work?" Davis guessed. "Not quite something Ken would stoop to." TK nodded. This LadyDevimon had to be coldblooded if she would resort to killing someone like a Lugia. Yolei stood up, facing Elm, questions in her mind. This was the first ever meeting with an otherworld professor and a Digidestined.

"What's the report?" she concernedly wondered.

"A devilish flying lady, claiming revenge, attacked the Lugias," Elm explained. "Oliver and Luka just happened to come onto the scene, helping Silver on board and treating its minor injuries. The mother Lugia was savagely beaten to an inch of her life. Luka sent out a distress signal." Oh, man! The lady went primal on the mother. The revenge...could it be that LadyDevimon? "However, even a successful operation wasn't enough to save her. Not even Ash could stop her, even if he was somewhere safely away from this action." Yolei, the honest professor should be clued in that Ash was still hanging around.

"Ash is still with us. I met him over in Pallet Town." Elm staggered, nearly tripping over his own feet. Oliver stopped crying, hearing the name, too.

"You're saying that Ash didn't go with the rest?" Luka shuttered. Yolei shook her head, pretty much confirming Luka's understanding, causing TK to step up.

"It was a stroke of luck that he was on an errand run to another professor," he pointed out. "Still, to hear about what happened to her, it's madness." Madness. To stop a killer...what do you need? Davis got up to Luka and Oliver, promise on hand.

"Listen, kid, we'll take care of whoever ended that Lugia's life," he proposed. "I may not like TJ here, nor Ash, but there nothing close to kills for kicks." Nice way to admit your emotions to such a little kid. Oliver sniffled, thinking that this was a guarantee to stop this femme fatale.

"Tell Ash to get her for me and Silver," he whimpered, trying to act tough. Davis nodded.

"I will. He'll listen." Listen he will. Meanwhile, flying across the oceans was a giant white winged sphinx with gold cuffs around the hooves. On top, Ash and Kari kept eyes on the islands as they flew over the waters. Where was Cody and Pikachu? On Charizard? Far behind? That's where we look underwater where a white miniature submarine with a face and a spear of death. Okay, not so mch, but the black spear embedded in the front had two pairs of barbs which could cause massive damage. In the clear capsule...so that's where Pikachu and Cody were. It also appeared that Cody borrowed Max's Pokénav from Ash.

"Mikan Island?" Cody read. "Trovita Island? Where do they come up with these names?" There's a mystery. Suddenly, Pikachu saw something on the mini-screen and pointed it out to Cody.

"It's sounds like we're close," the sub bubbled. Wait...submarines don't talk. Was that submarine a Digimon?

"We must be, Submarimon." Well, that's the proof. Submarimon began its ascent to the surface. Did Ash and Kari need to see Cody to confirm the island? Ash's eyes were peeled to the core, hoping to seek the island as well. It didn't take long for Ash to spot it. There was a shrine with rock pillars surrounding a stone mantle. Was that the island?

"Shamouti Island, down there," he called as he pointed to the island. Noting that there was the destination, all they needed to do is get descend.

"Okay, Nefertimon, let's land," Kari commanded the winged beast.

"You got it," she replied as she glided down to earth, or the destinate isle. Submarimon and Nefertimon arrived at the island from below and above, respectfully. Ash, Cody, Kari and Pikachu hopped off the rides, ready to proceed to the shrine.

"Is that where we find Lugia?" Cody wondered. By the shrine?

"That's where I last saw him," Ash answered. Let's get up there and see what's up." They journeyed to the stage which was up a flight of steps while ditching the Digimon at the shoreline. The humans and Pikachu got to the shrine, nothing appearing too out of place.

"Are you sure this is the place where the telepathic Lugia resides?" Kari doubted. Come on, Ash. Tell us something.

"This is," someone spoke. It wasn't Ash. Turning, the four saw a pink hippo on its hind legs and wearing a frilly red/white scarf. It also wore a gray spiral shell that was about as big as the hippo. Ash and Pikachu knew who it was the instant it...maybe better to say he talked.

"Slowking, hey, what's up?" Ash greeted. Slowking waived as he approached the three, happy to see Ash and Pikachu in good health.

"Well, it's relief that you weren't amongst the captured civilians of Pallet, and I bet I know why you're here." This had to be a wise man, or hippo. Ash bowed a nod. That's when caws screeched the silence away and making everyone turn to the sky. Out of the pitch-blue skies, a giant red bird emerged, coated in bursts of flames. Ash awed the sight of the blazing fire bird.

"Moltres." The bird landed on two of the stone pillars. The burning body and spirit made Cody tremble. More cawing shrills filled the air. Appearing was a large yellow spiked bird, sparks of lightning emanating from the feathers of the bird. "Zapdos." That bird softly landed by the staircase, cutting off any chance of escape. The sparks had Pikachu revealing it's electricity. Yet another screech of noise caught everyone off-guard. Turning again, a huge blue bird, shimmering of elegance of the shining coating feathers, came too. "That's the third, Articuno...but why are all three of them here...and in peace?" In peace? Why, did they have a big scuffle sometime ago? Articuno perched itself on the stone mantle, eying everyone.

"Ever since you and Lugia quelled the battle a couple of years ago, they've respected each other gradually." Ash and Pikachu got what Slowking meant, but Kari and Cody were...slow to catch on.

"What on earth would they be fighting about?" Cody questioned. Well, there were many possibilities. Maybe Ash could help clean it up.

"You see those three islands in the distance?" he asked as he shot a finger to three small pieces of land in the far reaches. "Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno wanted to maintain isolation amongst their islands when a poacher, or as he liked to clarify himself as a collector, kidnapped Moltres. Thinking that Moltres abandoned his island, we happened to meet up with Zapdos, claiming that land as his. That's when he caught Zapdos and us. After freeing both Moltres and Zapdos, they fought the airship and destroyed it. However, their rage almost erupted in the world's destruction. Lugia aided us in saving the world and stopping the grudge between those two and Articuno, who wasn't captured, but was upset that his island was attacked." Thanks for the history lesson, Ash.

"Guess they wanted to show how much respect they now have amongst each other," Kari surveyed. Perhaps. That's when Articuno beaked up. Trying to say something. No one had a clue on what it was trying to gawk at...all except for Slowking and Pikachu. They became horrified.

("No wonder Articuno sounds panicked,") Pikachu squeaked in disbelief. Why would the blue bird sound panicked?

"What do you mean?" Cody understood but asked.

"Articuno said that Lugia had returned from a fly-by over Kanto with bad injuries, claiming he was hit by an attack called 'Darkness Wave'," Slowking translated. Kari jumped in fear. Did she know the attack?

"No way that's a Pokémon attack," Ash regarded. No, but Kari did.

"So, LadyDevimon's on a rampage," she growled. All, even the birds turned to Kari, soundly knowing who it was and what the ire became.

"Can we stop her?" Since she knew LadyDevimon, she might know a way to stop her devastation. Zapdos cawed loudly, making everyone jerk to it. With a flick of its neck, Zapdos fired a yellow glass ball to Ash, who caught effortlessly. No fanciness.

"The treasure from Lightning Island?" The ball started to glow. A yellow spark circled inside the orb with tremendous feel.

"I think its about time I told you the truth about those treasures," Slowking opened up as Articuno spat out its blue treasure, making Pikachu catch it with his tail. That's where the effort went. Pikachu lobbed the treasure to Ash, who received it. "Those treasures are actually Energy Spheres, ornaments of harnessed power that the three legendary birds excrete their powers into. These powers are used to restore the harmony of the world, true enough, but when used in battle, the power might be deadly to put lightly." Eyes widened in fear. These Energy Spheres could kill? Then why give it to Ash? The blue Sphere radiated a blue light swirling around just like the yellow Sphere.

"But why Ash?" Cody wondered. Moltres flung a red Sphere, allowing Kari to grab it, which wasn't warm. That's a shock. Kari held the Sphere as a red flame-shaped light illuminated the orb of power.

"Anyone can hold it. The powers can be unleashed, but Ash has seen these up close, so he's aware of what's in these Energy Spheres." Ash gazed at the last Energy Sphere that Kari held.

"The energies of fire, ice and lightning," he named lowly. Suddenly, Moltres became chatty. Everyone spun to the bird of flames where Slowking was able to communicate.

"Well, there's more than just this. Moltres said that Lugia assisted an adversary and a young girl holding a Togepi. I don't know if that helps any." Ash's mind was along the straight and narrow as his mind clicked...and grinned.

"It helps a lot." How? Kari quickly thought of how.

"Mirage Kingdom and the Togepi Paradise," she guessed confidently. Ash nodded, saying that she knew where he needed to go, next.

"Then we better get going and regroup with the rest," Cody suggested. That was the next part of the rescue operation.

"Sounds like a plan," Ash agreed as he turned to the birds and Slowking. "Thanks for your help, guys. Take care and give Lugia my regards." Zapdos flew up, allowing Ash, Pikachu and the Digidestined to return to their rides.

"Good luck, my friends," Slowking waived. Before long, Cody and Pikachu boarded Submarimon as it readied itself to submerge while Ash and Kari hopped on Nefertimon to allow flight back. With each hour passing, the fates of Pallet's townspeople become more grim, but edging Ash and the Digidestined closer to finding them. The two trios reformed inside Ash's home, trading information and formulating a plan as Patamon informed Ash and Pikachu about the death of Silver's mother. Ash gritted on the notice. It may have gone a bit far.

"That's what Prof. Elm told us," Patamon finished. Knowing that it was Elm's words, Ash understood the report.

"Thanks, Patamon," Ash praised while still in some shock. Silver's mother must have hit a hard spot on his nerves. His mother came on his mind. Ash looked toward the rest, ready to move forward. Yolei saw Ash, knowing that his eyes meant it was time to move forward.

"So, now what's the plan?" Yolei asked, causing everyone to turn to Ash. The townspeople, the attacks, the chaos...everything that has happened up to this point seemed like this was a long-winded tale of truth to bestow a grand finale.

"Well, considering the circumstances that have been ongoing, the only plausible location to go to would be the Mirage Kingdom in the midland deserts of the Hoenn Region. That area is protected by continuous sandstorms and surrounding mountains." A difficult place to find, less get into. "Knowing that Ho-oh and Sara were involved with the skirmish over Pallet, I still have questions to address to her." He turned to his friend, bowing a nod before turning to everyone else. "I did appreciate all your hard work in this caper. I couldn't have managed to get this far without all of you." That was a kind gesture. Davis stood up, Oliver's words still needing to get out.

"Despite what Prof. Elm speculated your chances, Oliver wanted to give his saying to get LadyDevimon for him and Silver," he expressed his grit. "Those Energy Spheres should buy you some time to figure a counterattack." It was a strategy. Ash knew his skills could use some pointers.

"Thanks for the advice, Davis. You should huddle back to the DigiWorld." Everyone else gasped that Ash wanted to confront LadyDevimon alone.

"Ash, that's dangerous, even for an experienced trainer to battle LadyDevimon!" TK screeched in concern of his friends. Ash didn't step away from his plan of rescue.

"If anything, Ken may be conspiring to attack the Pokémon World. I've got the Mirage Kingdom considering my knowledge of the layout and the royal family." Kari ran to Ash, who got his arm out to cease her. Though he saw the distraught worry in her face, Ash stayed confident to the situation.

"Ash...you can't," she cried, tears beginning to trickle over her cheeks. Ash understood her concerns, yet remained focused on what was needed.

"Look." Kari wiped tears from her eyes, trying to be strong for Ash. "You guys have given me the strength to proceed on and finish what I've started. "I'm not doing this because I don't need anymore help or that I hate you guys suddenly. It's to protect you from what else may come out and attack. Alright?" Kari nodded, but still wanted to be with Ash until the end. TK walked over and placed a hand on Kari's shoulder, prompting her to turn to him and allow Ash to lower his own.

"We'll get everything prepared for when you bring the townspeople home," he issued. Ash huffed a chuckle, accepting the offer.

"I guess I'll see you later." Seeing Pikachu run up, Ash was ready. Charizard was by his side, meaning wings for a flyover if necessary. He finally walked out, his adventure resumed. The Digimon, substituting Submarimon and Nefertimon with Armadillomon and Gatomon, looked toward TK and Kari, still unacceptably allowing Ash to go on, what may be to her, a suicide mission. Ash walked from his house, ready to rescue Pallet Town...the people, at least. As he made his way to the town limits...

"Ash!" the shout of Yolei echoed. Ash and Pikachu turned, seeing the girls and their Digimon gaining ground to get to him.

"Yolei! Kari!" The girls stopped, a good foot from him. Yolei displayed a look of determination that could only be matched by Ash

"You think you can walk out on us and throw caution to the wind?" Ash and Pikachu shook on a nervous act, making it appear that he was unaware about their continuing pact. "We're in this together until the end, you got it?" Even Kari had to be smiling, acknowledging the opinion.

"Guess I can't argue myself out of this. Let's go!"

"Alright!" Kari cheered as they sprinted off, aiming for the Hoenn Region. The boys came out, watching Ash takeoff with both females. TK and Cody stood by while Davis couldn't hold his anger about how lucky Ash was with girls.

"Man, there's no reason Kari should continue to be with him!" he steamed. Wait...what about Yolei?

"Davis, those three were together when they got wind of why Pallet Town was deserted," TK reminded. Davis jerked to the other two, less than acknowledging this point.

"That doesn't matter!" While he began his rant at the boys, a brunette female in red arrived. The wardrobe: red bandanna, red tight t-shirt, black skin-tight shorts, white gloves with black fingers and yellow shoes. "Ash may be this hotshot who's pretty much skilled as I am but there's no reason Kari should be with that guy. Maybe Yolei, maybe Mimi, but not Kari. I don't care what anyone says!" Not even Tai? TK and Cody saw the new brunette, attempting to correct Davis.

"Uh, Davis?" Cody opened.

"No buts, Cody. If Veemon could fly, I'd go straight to Ash and knock some sense into him!" Well, someone was about to knock some sense into him. She wrapped her arms around Davis's neck, almost similar to Yolei's sleeper hold. "What the-!" However, she was going to do something different. She lifted him to the air, flipping Davis over her, landing on his head. Davis fell limp from the suplex that she implied. Ouch!

"Don't you dare talk about Ash like that!" she scolded. She turned to the other two, who stepped back, not wanting the same fate. "Was Ash here before?" She was interested in Ash? Wait...she couldn't be...

"Yeah, he left with Kari and Yolei to the Mirage Kingdom in the Hoenn Region," TK answered. "By the way, are you friends with Ash?" The girl nodded. Still, there's no way...really?

"It's May. I came to check on Max and Prof. Birch." One person considered missing was not. May was alright! While not knowing, Ash was on his way to Hoenn with his female escort. We'll see if there is a reunion next time.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	9. Reunion & Retribution

_Chapter 9: Reunion & Retribution_

* * *

The lives of 854 Pallet Town's citizens and visitors were on the line. 854, because May was back in Pallet, joining TK, Cody and the suddenly comatose Davis. Ash, traveling overseas with Yolei and Kari, had his mind set on getting to see every member of the town since hearing that news report. Riding on Nefertimon alongside Kari and having a red griffin-like creature wearing a silver helmet that had wings. A winged helmet...yeah. Yolei was riding on that with Pikachu, all approaching dry, deserting sands. "We're getting close!" Ash warned. "Keep an eye out for that wall!" That sandstorm wall, the one signifying the entrance to the Mirage Kingdom. Ash was prepared with the treasures, Energy Spheres, from the three islands adjacent to Shamouti Isle. The fliers vast over the desert when a wall of raging sand emerged upon the dunes.

"That's gotta be it!" Yolei hollered. "The Mirage Kingdom's close!" Ash nodded, confirming Yolei's understanding. The griffin had a thought about getting through that raging sand.

"Yolei, I may need to use my Tempest Wind for this," it calmly suggested. Yolei gulped, not sure about that attack being effective against that sandy wall. That, or... It's got to be something that made her turn to Ash.

"Hey, Ash! Could you loan us Charizard for a bit?! I'd rather not leave a stream of puke after the spins." The spins? Wait..this griffin spins? Not giving a second to think, Ash released Charizard, flying as if it was flying this whole time.

"Charizard, give Yolei and Pikachu a ride so that Halsemon can penetrate the sandstorm!" he ordered. Charizard listened, flying over to Halsemon. Yolei and Pikachu leaped aboard the flame-tailed Pokémon, allowing Charizard to slow down, giving Halsemon room. Maybe Charizard saw this attack and acted cautious. Three seconds until contact with the sandstorm wall.

"Tempest Wind!" Halsemon summoned. His body began to spin and twist, creating a funnel of tornado turning winds. The twisting vortex of air crashed into the sand wall, puncturing and ripping the wall apart. Safe passage. Nefertimon and Charizard followed swiftly through the broken sandstorm, verging toward the kingdom. A minute later, Ash saw egg-shaped towers over staggering mountains. Was that it? Ash knew it.

"We're here!" Ash announced. The Mirage Kingdom? Over the mountains, a town was inside, overlooked by towers surrounding the castle fortress. That's when Ash pointed to a large circular platform with an "X" in the middle. The three fliers descended onto the "X," landing without a hindrance. The four riders hopped off of Nefertimon and Charizard as Halsemon started to glow...only to shrink. It shrunk and changed...Hawkmon? It had breathed a sigh, fatigued from that whirl. Then, Nefertimon started to change too. It shrunk down, becoming Gatomon. What was up with those two? Yolei and Kari were getting their first look at this kingdom. It was a glorious place, even from the oversight platform.

"Wow," Kari awed. "It's wonderful." Ash knew the beauty of the sight, but knew better, refocused on finding Sara.

"Let's go." The group headed out, streets of the kingdom roaming. Looking through the roads that had shops selling merchandise that may be nothing more than simple trinkets, Ash kept his eyes forward on the task at hand.

"Not that I should complain, but shouldn't we head straight for the kingdom?" Gatomon offered. "I mean, since we need her and her Togepi to get to this paradise that you've been talking about." Ash knew that Gatomon was onto something, but kept his eyes peeled.

"You never know, Gatomon. We could get lucky. Besides, this _is_ the way to the kingdom." Yeah, let the man who's toured through here lead. That's when a woman screamed...and a shrill echoed. The gang turned to find a flying spotted eggshell...with short arms, legs and and a baby-like face. By the way...it was coming at Yolei! She spotted the egg falling toward her. Plainly, she held her hands out and just like that, it plopped into her hands. Nice catch. The egg stared up at Yolei, surprised a bit. That's when it chirped, happy to see Yolei. Okay...

"This...wouldn't happen to be a Togepi, would it?" she stuttered a touch. Ash shot a glance over...a girl in blue. _The_ girl in blue? Her redhead hair in spiraling pigtails which fluffed from out of a bonnet stirred Ash's brain...and legs to get her on her feet.

"Let me help you there, Princess." Princess, as in Princess Sara? The other girls were flabbergasted that this stumbled girl was royalty.

"How's Togepi?" she worried. Ash peered over to the egg, worried about the princess, itself.

"Yolei caught it, thank goodness." Back on her feet, Togepi was returned to the princess, handed back with care.

"Thank you for catching my Togepi."

"It's nothing, really," Yolei shyly accepted the greeting. "I mean, here we are, looking for the key to knowing where the townspeople of Pallet were." Good idea, Yolei, spill all that you need. The princess nodded, saying she did know about that.

"That's why I came to get you." The three turned to the princess, awed that she could blatantly revealed her plan. "Of course, I had to make sure that devil lady didn't find this place, otherwise this kingdom would be at the mercy of her." The devil lady again? Could this monster-raising trio have dodged a bullet? Don't hold your breath, it's still early.

"The devil lady, you say?" Kari repeated. "That's been said pretty much everywhere we've been. I have that feeling that it's LadyDevimon and that she may be here before we know it." Everyone should take cover.

"Then let's get over to the Togepi Paradise and meet up with everyone else." Not willing to argue the plan, and not because she's a princess, the group made their way through the city streets. However, Ash had to be wondering why the princess was at Pallet Town.

"Sara, what brought you to my hometown to begin with?" he asked. The princess, or Sara thought back to the moment where everyone in Pallet had vanished, leaving an Elm twigging out and Lugias in danger.

"Well, on hindsight, my father deserves some of the blame." Must people pin dilemmas on their parents when they knew that they were there and not Mom or Dad? Wait...she's a princess, meaning that her old man...

"Why the king?" The Mirage Kingdom's head commander-in-chief? No, that's the president of the United States of America. Wrong term. Sorry. Well Sara? What's the tale that dear old Dad earned the covenant "Father of the Year" award?

"It started a few years ago, so before I met you, Misty, Brock, May and Max. For generations, my family, heirs to the throne and the guardianship of the Togepi Paradise, ritually arranged marriages for when the time came for the current ruler to resign from the highnesses. Mine was suppose to be no different, and the young man I was going to marry was a very nice boy so I wasn't argumentative about family concepts. However, Miranda told me on a day that I never thought was possible that the boy had died of a rare illness. In other words, my marriage to him was null and void. Since this had never happened in the history of the Mirage Kingdom, my father gave me an option after you had visited and thwarted Hanson's diabolical schemes to go out into the world to find me a potential husband." Tell you what, the king had to be looking out for her daughter's best interests if he was going to allow Sara to roam outside of the kingdom. Let's give him kudos for that.

"But during your run to find a match, you stumbled upon Pallet, right?" Yolei guessed on the continuation. It was a pretty good guess.

"I did. Riding on Ho-oh who trusted me, I flew toward Pallet Town where that devil lady was threatening to harm the town. That's when Lugia showed up. The fiend and Lugia sprawled for a few minutes when I knew we had to rescue him. Using Togepi's Metronome, I was able to rescue the townspeople and the Pokémon." That could mean that the Pokémon and the humans were in some sort of area safe from the threat of this fiend. "I've suspended my search for a husband until this matter is concluded." Wise choice. Finally, they arrived at another platform with gates in front of another tower. "This is the gate." The gate...to what?

"The Togepi Paradise," Ash noted. "This has to be where the townspeople and Pokémon are." Reunion, set. Hold on...Sara had something to say.

"Actually, Ash, the Pokémon are in an underground vegetation area, so, they're safe from any sort of attack." Why would you want to separate humans and creatures? Suddenly, a flash lit by the gate. Everyone turned to the flash, seeing a circle of shining light from the gate.

"What's going on?" Gatomon meowed. To Ash, the light meant that the gate had opened to enter the world beyond the current one.

"Talk about permission granted," he gawked. "Let's go." The group entered the realm's door. Out the other side, there was a land with trees, marked with red and blue spots on them. There were also...people, having a grand time with a lot of Togepis flying around. Were these the citizens of Pallet Town? Suddenly...

"Ash!" that was the sound of Ash's mother. Sure enough, everyone turned to see the adult brunette. By her, Max, who also was excited to see Ash with them. Ash...yeah, he was happy to see his mother and Max again.

"Mom! Max!" He ran up, hugging his mother. Happy reunion commence.

"Man, what took you to get here?" Max joked. Hey, lay off of him. He had no idea of where to look to start with. Kari, Yolei, Sara and their creatures gathered around this happy get-together.

"Max, come on. You'd think I know where to look from the beginning?" A laugh from both signified goodness. That's when Ash's mother saw the new girls, thinking that Ash got lucky.

"Ash, it seems you didn't bring May with you," she pointed out. Ash was now clued in. May was safe, but how was she not captured in the mess?

"Wait...May's not here with the rest?" Both shook heads, saying that she wasn't there during the invasion. "Well, I kinda wished she did stop by when I came back. Could've put less strain on Caroline." Max became highly interested with that. It was his mother that got worried about him. Still, Ash's mother was more intrigued by Kari and Yolei, but Ash would help them out with introductions. "Mom, Max, this is Kari and Yolei. They helped me search for you all when I came back from the Orange Islands." Kari and Yolei stepped up, greeting the tyke and mother. Yolei seemed to take a well liking to Max. Glasses to glasses? Suddenly, a loud caw jolted Ash. That caw... something about that caw had Ash looking behind him. 'You've gotta be kidding me. Ho-oh?' He began to bolt toward the birding sound. Seeing the trainer sprint off, Pikachu, Gatomon and Hawkmon believed he was going somewhere that got his attention.

"Betcha he smells food on the horizon," Hawkmon beaked. Wrong answer, birdbrain. Despite that bad guess, the three animals pursued Ash where they came upon the sight, prompting Ash to cease feet traffic. There was a giant red bird with blond hair on its forehead which curled on top. The wings, mostly red feathered, had green tips on its white feathers and white tips of gold feathers on its tail. Even more, two men in white lab coats were wrapping bandages on its talons and white underbelly. Wounds, perhaps? Ash recognized the snow white haired and brunette stout professors.

"Prof. Oak! Prof. Birch!" The two swung their heads around spotting Ash and the creatures fast approaching, excited to see him as well.

"Ash, you made it!" Oak rejoiced. Unlike when he was reunited with his mother, Ash just approached the three.

"It's great that you two are in good shape. What about the rest of the people?" He liked the town he resided in, so no surprise that he was concern about the townspeople.

"They're actually enjoying things here," Birch laughed. "The Togepi are as cherubic as anyone you walk by." Sounded like everything was in order and not in any dire straits. Breathe a sigh of relief, Ash.

"Well, that's a good sign." That's when he gazed at the giant bird, overcome by the majesties of the winged creature. "So, I finally get to meet you, Ho-oh." Ho-oh gazed upon Ash like booty to a pirate. "Thank you for protecting everyone." Ho-oh grinned, expecting that notion from the one that he laid eyes on. It cawed so stoic, even Ash had to understand.

"Looks like I should be listening to you a lot better," Oak chuckled. "Ho-oh acts as though it's his long lost son." Okay...that would be horrifying to think that a human child could be produced between a human and a Pokémon, or Digimon. Still, Ash remained unwaivering.

"Even in Armored form, I doubt I could outsize that glory," Hawkmon shivered. Ash huffed a childish tickle, feeling overwhelmed with the power Ho-oh whaffed. That's when...

"Ash!" a female called upon the trainer...but it wasn't Kari, Yolei or even Ash's mother. Ash turned to the sound, spotting a side ponytail redhead in a yellow sleeveless t-shirt and yellow skin-tight shorts. Pikachu was ecstatic to see her while Ash stumbled to find words to use, seeing her in the same such shape as...well, pretty much everyone else.

("Misty!") Pikachu gleed as he bolted over to her. The redhead knelt down, liking the sight of Pikachu as she clung onto her, embracing it in a hug.

"Pikachu, it's good to see you okay!" This was who Ash was talking about before? Misty glared back at Ash, less than blown-out excitement, but still happy to see him alive as well. "I take it you came to take us all home, huh, Ash?" That was the plan, as long as the path home was obstacle-free.

"Let's just say that I'd rather not bear to sadden your sisters," Ash teased. Misty knew that he was joking, still huffing a good cackle.

"Ever since the princess came to our aid, Misty was frustratingly worried that maybe she wouldn't see you again," Oak explained. Ash understood where Oak was coming from, but wondered if it was what he said or what Pikachu said when he first visited the DigiWorld.

"Me, Pikachu or both?" There's a good bet that it's both.

"Ash, you know I worry about you, too," Misty hummed a more serious tone. "You're the inspiration of caring for Pokémon. I mean, so much that I would've wanted you to babysit Togepi during our trip through the Johto Region." Quite a compliment there. Ash had to feel pleased about that. That's when Misty took notice to the Digimon that were hanging around Ash. Ash saw where Misty peered, allowing himself to introduce them.

"Before you mistake it for a Spearow or Meowth, let me say that they're not Pokémon. They are Digimon, Hawkmon and Gatomon." Gatomon and Hawkmon came forward, adding to Misty's curiosity. Kari, Yolei and Max entered the sight, all with a Togepi or two swarming on them.

"I see that you two have got back together," Max teased. Yeah, they did. Ash and Misty managed to scoff before Ash recovered to introduce Misty to Kari and Yolei.

"Anyway, Kari, Yolei, this is Misty, a good friend of mine and a better friend of Pikachu." Both girls approached the redhead, who became intrigued with why they were here and how Ash was familiar with them.

"How did you guys meet Ash?" she questioned. Kari would not be the one, fearing that her kiss might send Misty over the edge. Don't worry, Yolei was the first to confront Ash, though more vicious.

"Well, let's just say we got along quickly after a little disagreement," she shuttered. "When that news report of how Pallet became something out of a city seizure, we decided to help Ash with finding you." Misty realized that Yolei meant her word. That's also when another raven-haired young man arrived with a white winged bundle of adorable. It had the same spots like the Togepi, but without the ivory skin.

"What's going on over here?" he voiced. Everyone jerked heads over to the new youngster who wore a red headband, teal t-shirt and faded orange shorts.

"Tracy," Misty recognized. "Togetic, you're in time." Togetic? "Ash made new friends while trying to find us." As Misty got to have Tracy and the Digidestined girls meet, Ash felt as though that this would end peacefully, no fighting, no dangers...the need for the Energy Spheres seemed pointless to have.

'I think we overreacted to the crisis that could've meant more lives in harm's way,' he pictured. He pulled the blue sphere, gazing at the light that swirled inside. That's when a flash from the sky erupted. To all as they looked up at the apparent storm, they felt that something bad was coming.

"Someone's at the gateway," Max figured. "And whoever it is, they want in." Then, panting sounds. All turned, seeing a panicking Sara.

"It's her!" she warned. "The devil lady!" Not good. Ash turned, seeing more flashes from the air above. So many lives were now threatened. Ash sprinted to the area, causing everyone to be panicked about the trainer.

"Ash!" Kari, Misty and Yolei shouted. Ash ignored the calls. No choice, the girls followed. Ash looked at the more lighted window, since he could see the outside or other world, eying a black winged woman with glue white skin as she wound a punch.

"Darkness Spear!" she bellowed as her arm became a giant spike. The swing...CRASH! The woman in tattered black leather from head to toe broke through the "wall" and into the paradise. "Well, that wall was tougher than I realized." That's when she saw Ash, interested with who he was. The girls got there also, knowing that this was not a good sign.

"Just as we thought," Kari acknowledged. "LadyDevimon!" LadyDevimon glared at only Ash.

"Well, you're new to me." Ash felt the evil radiating from LadyDevimon, figuring that she would be continuing her chaos here.

"What's your purpose here?" he asked. "Mayhem?" With all that he's heard about, she had accomplished that.

"It was merely curiosity when I was trying to break in my reconfigured body," LadyDevimon tried to play innocence. That's when she spotted Kari and Gatomon, causing her to seethe. "So, you brought the light with you. That makes things all the better, considering that I can fulfill my vengeance." She was still bent on vengeance? That could not bode any better.

"You really think you can finish me out of spite?" Gatomon growled. "I think you need that permanent vacation right about now and I've got the puncher for that ticket." The grit of determination unraveled from the digital cat and Kari, having Ash join with the two.

"Let's see you punch this! Evil Wing!" LadyDevimon launched burning bats at the group. Misty took action by grabbing a ball of her own.

"Wrong move, Ma'am," she grunted as she tossed her ball. "Garydos, Hydro Pump!" The ball opened up, releasing...Leviathan! No, not really, but the size of the _big_ mouth blue sea serpent was startling. The serpent splashed a cannon of water, striking and dousing the heated bats to...where did they go?

"Nice shot, Misty!" Ash cheered. Ash knew what happened, meaning that LadyDevimon was in trouble. Garydos roared in some victory.

"This isn't over, Misty," Kari warned. "LadyDevimon is a lot tougher than that." That made Ash grit more. He was willing to avenge Silver's mother. He was willing to stop the threat that hampered the townspeople he lived alongside. It started here. It started now. It started with another attack from the eyes as LadyDevimon shot eye beams at the kids. Togetic began to glow before a light veil dome erected and just in time. The beams bounced off the veil, harmlessly flying away.

"What the-" LadyDevimon shrieked. Ash grinned, feeling safe.

"Safeguard, LadyDevimon," he sneered. "This light repels pretty much anything. Thanks, Togetic." Gatomon had a split second thought. Did Ash say something?

"Kari," she called as she turned to her human partner. "It's time to bring me out." Bring _you _out? Kari seemed to have acknowledged Gatomon's thoughts, bringing out her D-3.

"Bring what out?" Misty wondered. Kari grinned, ready to unveil a secret weapon.

"Watch and learn." Suddenly, the Safeguard light began to envelop Gatomon, as well as Kari's D-3. That's when Gatomon started to morph.

"Gatomon digivolve to...ANGEWOMON!" was her battle cry. The Safeguard was being absorbed. When the Digimon stopped glowing, angelic wings appeared. The wings began to have a body and a pink ribbon above it. She had blond hair, but her face was hidden by a masked helmet, which had a cross embedded on it. The body wasn't of a cat, but of a female human adult wearing a golden wing brassier attached to what seemed like a sexy white swimsuit. The left arm had an arm-lengthy glove with a wing on the wrist, while the right arm was bare, and she wore white, leg-lengthy high-heeled boots. For any man in the area, instant reaction of awe and shunned beauty, unlike LadyDevimon. Ash, Misty, Sara and Pikachu were no exception to it.

"An angel?" Misty gulped. Sara, knowing of angels, knelt to her knees, praying for sanctity to hone from Angewomon.

"Oh, lord," she murmured. "I thank thee for bequeathing us an angel to rid the evil which has plagued all lands." Someone's converting to religion. Ash tapped her on the shoulder, trying to say "knock it off."

"I don't think the heavens were that grateful in loaning us an angel," Ash doubted. Looking at the two bigger women, or Digimon, Ash fingered his pockets, itching to use the Energy Spheres in battle. There was also safety that became a problem. "Sara, get everyone out of here. Angewomon, Pikachu, Garydos and I can deal with this witch." The girls gasped, overwhelmingly worried about the raven-haired trainer.

"Ash, don't," Misty warned with a yank on his arm. "It's suicide!" Ash believed he knew what to do, but understood the outcrying concern of the ladies that surrounded him.

"I'll be fine. Besides, it's just like me and Gary at the Silver Conference." Ash, you'd better study the situation a little more closely. This isn't a battle for a winner. This is a battle to the death. "...Just that I promised Oliver to pay her back for what she did to Silver's mother." Misty was in shock. She didn't know that LadyDevimon had slain the mother Lugia. However, she realized that this was nothing new to Ash, considering the earlier statement.

"When it involves Pokémon, you never turn away." Yolei placed her hand on Misty's shoulder, having her to turn to the lavender-haired Digidestined.

"Let's give Ash some faith," she advised. Misty still felt she needed to stay, but Ash's devotion to stopping this crisis convinced her that Ash had this battle in the bag.

"Don't die on us." No movement on Ash. The girls scampered off, leaving the flying angel and devil to brawl...and Ash, Pikachu and Garydos to monitor the battle.

"It would seem that those girls really care about you, little boy," LadyDevimon scoffed. Ash turned to the woman in black, not quite appreciating her tone...but agreeing in the fact that Misty, Kari, Yolei and Sara did worry for his safety. He even decided...

"Well, it was nice of you to wait for them to leave," he mocked. "I don't think I've met a murderer with polite manners before. What, you wanted a fair fight." Now it was LadyDevimon who dissed the tone of Ash, acting as if evil shouldn't be so proper. No warning, LadyDevimon charged in, swooping down toward the group. Angewomon had enough of all the mocking, flying up to cut her enemy's path. Hands clamping, Angewomon was caught in a trap as LadyDevimon kicked her in the gut. She traveled a few feet before recovering and charging right back, landing a hook into the dark one's abdomen. Going for the knockdown, Angewomon aimed a punch to the back of LadyDevimon's head, but the fiend wanted no part of it as she flapped her wings, sending her back a good foot, good enough to evade Angewomon's strike. Off balance, LadyDevimon came forward, scoring a knee to the side of Angewomon's head. There's a few bells rung. Shaking the attack off, Angewomon refocused her eyes...well, if those eyes weren't shielded. Ash knew Angewomon was in a pickle. He pulled the blue Energy Sphere from his coat again, means of finally using it.

"Vile Wing!" LadyDevimon swooped in, faster than before. Not fast enough as Angewomon saw the attack, using the momentum from LadyDevimon by grabbing her forwarded arm and flinging it to Ash.

"Garydos, Flamethrower!" Garydos spewed fire from that enormous of its, burning close to LadyDevimon. The fiend saw the attack, straightening herself out.

"Darkness Wave!" Tossing volleys of bats, they stopped Garydos' flames. Garydos relented, realizing that it wasn't getting through. "How dare you! Vile Wing!" Another Vile Wing? This time, it was aimed at Ash, and this wasn't going to be good.

"Ash!" Angewomon yelled. "Look out!" Here she came. Ash stood his ground, still palming the Energy Sphere. At the last second, Ash flanked left, missing the sharped claws by not even an inch. An opened opportunity.

"Catch this cold!" he bellowed as he smashed the Sphere into LadyDevimon's face. That can't be good for the makeup. The Sphere shattered, but that was the bad news. The good news? VOOM! A humongous blast of icy cold winds blew into LadyDevimon so hard, she was sent flying back a handful of yards. That was no breeze. That was a wind power the force of an F-5 tornado with subzero shards of snow, ice and anything related to chilly. Angewomon was at a safe distance from the eruption, but still was awed by the energy that billowed from the breaking.

"Where did the ancestors find that power? Antarctica?" Somewhere cold and wintry, right? A few seconds wilted when the winds died down. LadyDevimon felt hypothermic, shivering from that cold air and her face coated with a sheet of ice. Ash's arm wasn't as lucky as Angewomon, since that body part was also covered in ice...at least 3 inches thick. Yikes! He was not expecting this kind of repercussion.

"Should have expected some sort of consequence. Not quite a frostbite of epic proportions." Are you sure that's a frostbite? LadyDevimon clear her eyes of the blinding snow and ice and anything else before setting her eyes on Ash, peeved but intrigued.

"I'll admit, you runt, I didn't expect you to whip up a snowstorm like that from the palm of your hand, less appreciate it," she growled. "What are you, a humanized Digimon or some perfected experiment meant to deal with the likes of us?" Ash as something more than normal?

"Well, I _am _more than a mere Pokémon trainer and global traveler if that's a start." Anyone say pressure? An eyebrow rose on LadyDevimon, if you could see her entire face. Could he be telling the truth?

"Well then. Let's see if you _are _a mere trainer." LadyDevimon began her dive, if not for Angewomon intercepting the fiend in that split second. Angewomon connected a shoulder block, knocking LadyDevimon back a couple. Enough room for Angewomon to attack. The wings lengthened out. What's going on? An arrow of light began to emit from an invisible string, pulled back.

"Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon hollered as she fired the arrow. LadyDevimon seemed eager to spot the arrow as she swatted it away like a fly.

"You haven't changed a bit since four years ago. I thought you might come out with some extra flair, but I mistook." Angewomon seethed a bit, not liking the tone she teased.

"I don't need special techniques to beat the virus out of you." Needless to say, LadyDevimon was unimpressed.

"That's ashame. I'd be having more fun with the two humans and the creatures." Two? Angewomon didn't like the sound of two.

"What do you mean two?" She peeked down. Ash, gearing his arm. No surprise there. Even Ash had to wonder who else LadyDevimon mentioned. He looked back, seeing his heart sink like the Titanic, if he knew what the Titanic was. Kari, disregarding Ash's advice, raced back to the scene. This couldn't be happening.

"Kari!" he yelled as he swung his normal arm to tell her to turn back. It wasn't going to work, since this was Kari's Digimon. To Angewomon, this was trouble. To LadyDevimon, bait.

"You're mine!" she bellowed as she swooped in to try and cut down the kids.

"Ash, behind you!" Angewomon warned. Ash twisted back, spotting the fast approaching demon. Kari coming from where she was safe, LadyDevimon flying from above...what to do?

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" he commanded as he fled to get to Kari's side. Pikachu unleashed massive jolts of lightning from the small frame but LadyDevimon was too quick, evading the electricity. Ash got to Kari's side, knowing that she could be protected...but how? His arm was sheeted in ice. Another Darkness Spear was approaching. Ash had to act, even if it meant losing his arm. He swung the frozen arm as LadyDevimon was thrusting her spear. Both met in a clash, which the ice on Ash's arm began to crack under the pressure. "Now, Iron Tail!" Pikachu leaped to the sky, it's tail glowing white and with one swing, he knocked the spear away from Ash and Kari...and left LadyDevimon wide open. With a rotating spin, Ash hooked LadyDevimon in the chin, launching her far and destroying the ice, freeing Ash's arm with normal functions. LadyDevimon felt the brunting impact while heading toward Angewomon.

"Heaven's Charge!" A cross formed in front of Angewomon as she barreled at the demonic Digimon. LadyDevimon heard Angewomon coming and fired more eye lasers. A few shots hit the cross, but one got her on the mask. She crumpled in a fall, losing her grip on the cross which dissolved. When she got to the humans, Kari was the first to give attention. "She's a lot tougher, indeed." Ash looked on, knowing how vicious LadyDevimon had been. He was also shaken with Kari's return.

"Kari, I told you to clear from here and allow me and Angewomon to take care of work." Kari eyed LadyDevimon ready to strike.

"She's still my Digimon and I've gotta help her out," she protested. Talk about gun-ho. "Here she comes!" What attack now? LadyDevimon curled her body up, wanting to unleash something big.

"Darkness Wave!" she bellowed as she fired more hordes of bats their way. Act, someone! Ash had a hold of another Energy Sphere when the bats began to circle around the group, forcing immobilization. Ensnared, the demon geared in for the kill. "This is the end! Darkness Spear!" The big spike was out once more. Ash needed to get out of the kill zone, but those bats had blocked any form of escape. Angewomon decided to make her move...and she had to time it right or it's curtains for all of them. Now!

"Divine Kick!" she roared as she jumped, flipped and got her glowing foot out to divert LadyDevimon away. In some fancy flight, LadyDevimon twisted her body, just enough to make Angewomon miss. Now there was nothing stopping LadyDevimon from reaching Ash and Kari. Left no choice, Ash clutched the yellow Energy Sphere. Angewomon feared the worst. "NO!" Ash knew the effect from the ice Sphere was a double-edged sword since it froze his arm and blew the wind and warmth from LadyDevimon, so he knew that both of them would probably feel the immense power from the other two orbs. He had no choice but to gamble.

"You're finished!"

"Not yet!" Ash grinned as he palmed the Sphere forward like a tiny shield. The spike pierced and totaled the Sphere...forwarding a shocking revelation! A voltage, 50 times stronger than what Pikachu could muster, illuminated and snagged LadyDevimon and Ash, electrocuting them and vaporizing the Darkness Wave bats. Ash was feeling the electricity coursing through his body, much like Davis did during the planning stages of the search. LadyDevimon was no exception to the pain of bolts. Ash made one roar as he "pushed" the lightning forward. The lightning fired back at LadyDevimon, sending her back a good football field onto her back. Sparks emitted from both shocked combatants. Ash collapsed to a knee, still feeling the effects. He could not be feeling any better after that. Kari and Pikachu immediately became very concerned. Ash peered forward, blood seeping from his mouth. Internal injuries?

"Ash?" Kari fidgeted at the sight of blood. Ash wiped the blood from his face, knowing that this battle wasn't done yet.

"I'm good." Don't lie, Ash. You're far from good. He unsteadily rose to his feet, still pained from all that lightning. Angewomon retreated back down, seeing Ash in a terribly different account than what Ash fibbed.

"You can't take another direct shot from LadyDevimon or those Energy Spheres," she advised. "You won't survive it." Ash was more worried about everyone in the paradise to start considering his own health. Angewomon did have the point, however. LadyDevimon rose to her feet, slowly, uneasily, but surely. Ash and Angewomon needed a plan.

"I still have one more Sphere. You need to connect that Celestial Arrow to stop her." Okay, but how?

"How?" Kari wondered about what Ash was plotting. Ash pulled the final, red Sphere from his pocket, wanting to use it. "Digimon recover pretty quickly, unlike humans." A point well taken to Ash.

"I'll get her attention. That way, you can get a clear shot. If it works, that arrow should tag both LadyDevimon and the Sphere, and knowing that this Sphere contains fire..." Ash could only picture what could be looming around in that Sphere. "I need at least a few seconds." It was then that Misty came back as well, but remained far enough that Ash wouldn't see her. He had enough on his plate to be protective about.

"Ash, don't be so stubborn," she prayed. "I could feel that power from far away and know that you're in extreme pain. Let the Digimon finish it." Ash was ready, blood still leaking from the lips. He was in pain, in anger, in determination. It was now or never. Angewomon flew high, making LadyDevimon look at her and give chase. Ash and Pikachu sprinted ahead. It wasn't long before the wingers were fist-fighting. Ash skidded to a stop, eying the flying cat-fight. You couldn't really call it a dogfight since these were women. Angewomon managed to push off LadyDevimon who came charging in with her claws, hoping to inflict harm with them.

"Heaven's Charm!" Angewomon chanted as she formed a white ring over her head. An extra large halo? Beaming a rainbow? The rainbow nailed LadyDevimon, freezing her. She wasn't moving. An open target.

"No, this can't be!" she cried in dismay. Angewomon prepped another Celestial Arrow. This was it.

"Ash, now!" The signal. Using the remaining strength he had in him, Ash chucked the last Sphere into the air. Angewomon readied the arrow. "Hit the mark!" She fired. The Sphere hooked into the arrow's path. That's when the arrow pierced the Sphere and LadyDevimon in the chest. Direct hit! LadyDevimon...

"NO!!!" she screamed before...KABOOM!!! A giant fiery explosion engulfed the arrow, Sphere and LadyDevimon. Angewomon flew upward, clear of the blast. Ash wasn't so lucky. The blast pushed him far away. He landed with a sickening thud on his head, knocking him out. The fire dissipated, no trace of LadyDevimon...except for a piece of black leather. Was she gone for good? Kari and Misty found Ash, unconscious and blood flooding out of his mouth. Pikachu, not far from Ash from the blast, got up, getting over to his master.

("Ash!") Pikachu screeched. Kari and Misty arrived, also trying to wake Ash.

"Ash, come on!" Misty tried to get her words through.

"Ash, wake up!" Kari also tried. So far, no use. The Pallet Townspeople heard the explosion, knowing full well that Ash was involved. This was one of their children. He was a son, a nephew, a brother. Could anyone wake Ash...or was this the end?

* * *

TO BE CONCLUDED...


	10. Alive & Farewell

_Chapter 10/Final: Alive & Farewell_

* * *

Ash was down. Ash was out. Ash…may be dead. Kari, Yolei, Misty came over to Ash and Pikachu's side, worried that they've witnessed the last moment of his life. The 800-plus members of Pallet Town heard the explosion from far and wide in the Togepi Paradise that they raced over to see what happened. The girls, including Angewomon, vainly tried to alert Ash awake. Blood, staining the once healthy green grass, became a sign that the curtain may have had finally lowered onto Ash.

* * *

_(? Dream)_

_Ash's eyes were opening, reeling from the concussive blast…into an area where everything was an ooze of numerous colors. "Oh, man," he groaned. "Anyone get the registration of the bomb?" Wherever he was, he was still out of it. That's when noticed a feeling…or lack of. He looked down, or up, or whichever way and saw that his body was missing. All that was there was his head. That's scary! "Okay, forget the registration joke. What happened to my body?!" Someone was about to fill Ash…or his head in on the situation._

"_It seems that you've survived from the explosion, but barely," a voice echoed in the background. Out of the multicolored area, a midget of a man emerged. He was garbed in a white cotton jumpsuit with red pieces of fabric sticking out over zippers and a purple witch's hat with a skull as an emblem. He also wore boots with crescent moons over shoestrings. A purple scarf was over most of his face. The only thing you could see was his eyes._

"_Who are you?" The man came over to the disembodied head, seemingly interested with how a head was able to talk, let alone be alive._

"_You protected Kari and battled alongside Gatomon, didn't you?" Ash could easily recall the battle against LadyDevimon. He used the Energy Spheres to stop the fiend from causing more havoc and murder._

"_Yeah, including protecting everyone from my home. Why did you mention only Kari and Gatomon?" The man placed a hand on Ash's head, since that was the only body part available._

"_Relax." Okay, that didn't really answer Ash's question. Suddenly, there was a glow. Ash's head lit up like the star ornament on a Christmas tree. That's when his body began to spurt out from the lonely head. His body and clothes were restored. Ash was now able to move again…except that he was still in that mess of a place. "Consider me a friend. Thank you for watching over them." That was quite a compliment. Ash was a bit awed by the politeness of this "friend."_

"_My pleasure, I guess." The man was silent, not waivered by Ash's return._

"_There is something else that I want to award you with." Something else? Like what? Ash began to think that this person was being a little too compassionate. Regardless, the man continued. "I want you to clear your mind for a couple of seconds." Not too difficult to perform._

"_I haven't been thinking since you gave my body back." See? The man placed his hand on Ash's chest, flashing a blue light. The light illuminated Ash once more. The glow would last a few seconds. There was no real change. Even Ash felt left in the dark. "What did you give me?"_

"_An ancient power that I withheld from creatures that would abuse it. However, since I've seen what you were able to do from beyond, I can entrust you with its energy." This ancient power…what power could it contains? Powers that could destroy? Powers that could heal? Both, perhaps?_

"_I'm not sure that I get what you're saying, but all right. Well, if I _am_ alive, shouldn't I wake up?" No one's telling you to remain dead._

"_You may. I won't stop you." Ash nodded to the new man before he closed his eyes._

_(END ? DREAM)_

* * *

Ash began to moan, almost bringing a tear to Ash's mother's eyes. Everyone, all 800-plus, were surprised to hear Ash moaning. "Oh my goodness," the mother shuttered.

"He's alive!" Max screamed so happily as Ash opened his eyes to such a worried crowd. Kari, tears flooding her face from the eyes down, leaped onto Ash, hugging him.

"Ash!" she cheered, choked up with watery eyes. Ash understood how fearful she was when he wasn't waking before. Heck, everyone got easily frightened about Ash dying at a tender age.

"Ash, you had us all panicking that you got killed," Misty sniffled. Well, even he doubted that he managed to survive that horrific battle.

"I can tell," he smiled. "Sorry about that." What's he got to be sorry about?

"Ash, remember on Shamouti Island?" her mother sobbingly wanted to scold. "You're the world to me. Sure, I may have been a reckless mother, and you've got some of my habits, but you're still my little boy, and nothing in this world can take that away." Even the professors choked up with the honest mother's cry.

"Delia, you raised a good son," Prof. Oak murmured. Good, reckless, brave…anything else? Ho-oh, watching the giant crowd, never made a move or a sound. It just stood there, awed by the scene unfolding. Kari and Delia helped Ash onto his feet, receiving hugs from Sara and Yolei and exchanging fives with Max.

"Alright, guys," he voiced. "What do you say we all go home?" Sounded like a good idea. A unison of agreements prompted Ho-oh to start flexing its wings. Well, that's when Ash flopped onto Misty. Just like that, he appeared to have fainted. Exhaustion could be the reason.

"Hey, take it easy!" Misty jumped. Angewomon swooped down and felt Ash's head, hearing breathing that seemed pretty heavy but rather normal.

"He's worn himself out," she figured. "Let's let him rest. He earned that victory the hard way." Indeed, he did. Everyone decided to pack up and depart from the Togepi Paradise. Everyone exited the parallel world, returning to the Mirage Kingdom. Sara and Kari escorted Ash, asleep from the fight, into the castle and its guest bedroom. While he slept, everyone else was set for the trip back home. The next day, Ash woke up, refreshed from his quarrel with LadyDevimon. Thanks to Sara, everyone got numerous escorts leading from the shores of the Hoenn Region back to Kanto, one leg of the homecoming. As Ash arrived with the rest, he was greeted with some giant blue sea dinosaur-like creatures with long necks and shells on their backs. Ash and Misty recognized the school approaching the shoreline.

"Lapras!" Ash cheered. The Lapras saw the extent of all the people that needed to get home. Thankfully, Ho-oh and Sara not only offered help with safe passage, but she scrounged up a fleet of blimps. That's got to be enough for everyone to come home to. Ash boarded the leading Lapras, helping Kari and Gatomon onboard. Misty and Max jumped on another Lapras as did Yolei and Delia on one more. The trip would take a little longer than when Ash, Kari and Yolei arrived to begin with. The following day, everyone was back in Pallet Town, a warm homecoming by the Digidestined boys and May. May was overjoyed to see Ash alive…with the entire town behind him. Over the next few days, all of the Pokémon that were stored in a secret compartment inside made it back to Pallet, all thanks to the miracle of technology. The Digidestined, who decided to hang out while defending the digital world at the same time got a chance to see and coincide with them, along with the Digimon. As May had her chance to see the rest of the lineup, the boys were able to interact with plenty of the townspeople. A news report told pretty much the background of this entire story.

"The 852 citizens of Pallet Town, who vanished without as much as a trace last week, returned in what had to be the most heart-cringing time for loved ones worldwide," an anchorman read. "Today, Pallet Town appears not to have lost a day, despite a whole week of mystery of being away from the hustle and bustle that this small town derived from. There was one notion of gratitude: Ash Ketchum, who was first reported amongst the missing townspeople, was actually away on an errand run by Samuel Oak, Pallet Town's Professor, in the Orange Islands. In addition, Ketchum received help from more kids, known as the Digidestined, though little information has been given about this team of five." One week had passed since Ash's friends, family and neighbors vanished by Sara's interference among an evil invader, the sun rose. A bright day shined over the possible grim outcome that may have been. A three-headed bird echoed to caw the morning sun. In the Ketchum household, Ash was sleeping again, just not alone. Kari and Yolei were snuggled side-by-side with Ash. Those three were the real heroes in this caper. On the drawer, Pikachu, Gatomon and Hawkmon were also in dreamland, cuddled together like wolves in a den. The morning sun stirred the three awake. You could bet that the girls felt comfort with Ash sleeping beside them. They greeted the morning and each other before coming down for breakfast.

"Morning, you guys," May welcomed. She seemed unusually cheerful about Ash having a couple of cute girls sleep beside him.

"Morning, May," Kari greeted her back. The three sat and had some OJ to start the day.

"You know, we did have a lot of fun here, even before everyone was rescued," Yolei reviewed the adventure. "If not for our duties of protecting the DigiWorld, we would more than likely tag along with you through the Battle Frontier and the Pokémon Contests." May didn't seem too worried about this setback, nor did Ash, but he wouldn't mind about the extra company.

"Yeah, that's right," Ash remembered. "I've got to make sure we have enough first-aid for going around Kanto once again." So, not only was there this Battle Frontier, but something about contests? We never got to know anything about the Frontier, let alone a contest.

"About that," Kari opened up. "What is the Battle Frontier?" Thank goodness someone asked the question.

"The Battle Frontier plays out like many gym battles that I've entered. There are seven symbols that I'm going to earn by battling the leaders, or Frontier Brains. The trick to getting seven is the first six. After those six, the seventh will be revealed. Whether or not after those seven do I earn a spot for a tournament or something big, I won't know until I complete the quest." Finally, it was about time that someone explained the detail. Kari and Yolei seem to have the message down. That's when May decided to speak of a suggestion.

"Say, before we go, is it all right if I see your world?" she asked. Guess she was fascinated with the Digimon.

"I don't think that there's any harm in you, Max and Misty to visit us," Yolei allowed. How about that? Ash and May could tell Misty and Max that they could come with the rest to see the digital world…and hear Pikachu talk like a human to freak them out.

"Thanks. It may be more promising than when I suplexed Davis." Yolei became a tad frightened. She put Ash in a sleeper hold, but May knew how to put the harm in the grapple. Ash had a pretty good idea on why Davis deserved such punishment.

"Let me guess," Ash spoke up. "Davis was talking smack?" May bobbed a nod, confirming Ash's suspicions. Nervous laughter shrouded the room in a hint of fear of May's savagery. After breakfast, Misty, Max and Delia, along with Pikachu, Gatomon and Hawkmon decided to join the others at the cave that connected both worlds. "Well, this is the cave." This was where Ash found the connection and the start of the adventure.

"This is the cave where that devil lady came from?" Max pondered. She was a Digimon so it was very likely that this was her starting point.

"It's the home for all Digimon," Kari pointed out. "Come on in." Kari, Pikachu and the Digimon entered first, followed by Ash, then the rest. Soon enough, everyone made it to the other side. The newcomers saw the new world, not really impressed with the new setting.

"Okay, so this is the DigiWorld," Misty sighed. Talk about unsatisfied customers.

"It's a little more than just land," Ash tried to reassure. "Right, Pikachu?"

"Absolutely right, Ash," Pikachu backed his friend. Delia, Misty and the siblings freaked a little at Pikachu's new voice. "This is probably the only place where the Pokémon would be able to talk freely, unlike Meowth who could speak freely wherever he goes." As punctual as Pikachu voiced, May still couldn't fathom the fact that Pikachu was able to speak like a human being.

"This is something that Prof. Oak or Birch might take to consideration," Delia warned. "Who knows what technology could be stemmed from a discovery such as this." A dangerous one, no doubt.

"It's already weird enough with Meowth," May sighed. "But, I think taking Mrs. Ketchum's advice might be the best idea to keep both worlds from going into chaos." Everyone acknowledged Delia's idea, going by any means for peace amongst the Digital Pokémon worlds. That's when flaps were heard. They looked up, eying Ken flying over on the gargoyle-like winged beast. Ken flew over, not even looking down at the group of invaders. This was off. No acknowledgements of checking to make sure.

"Now, it's that eyesore that needs to be treated," Yolei growled. Kari and the Digimon knew that with Ken messing things up in this world, there was no way that her group would relax. Ash saw things in a different light…as if he just needed a slap in the face.

"Why don't you guys head back and formulate a plan?" Ash offered. The girls acted a little surprised with Ash's calming demeanor to the struggle that the Digidestined were contending with. "What Ken needs is a good dose of reality. It may get him to listen in how wrong it is to corrupt these worlds." He may be onto something there. Of course, it was also Ash's first time seeing Ken. Kari and Yolei seemed to have some sort of thought process from Ash.

"I think we can get Ken to snap out of this ruling business." They turned to Ash, ready to wish him luck in his next adventure. "Ash, May, Max, you guys have a good time around the Kanto Region." Ash and May bobbed determined nods to Yolei, ready for their trip though the Battle Frontier and the Pokémon contests.

"We will," May pumped. Kari came up to Ash, also wishing him farewell.

"Ash…" she began to hesitate. "I…don't know if I can see you again. I kinda wanted to stay and watch you do your training, and even help out with your adventures." Knowing what Kari was trying to say, Ash placed a hand on her shoulder, telling her that everything will be okay.

"Kari, you don't really need to get all emotional because we have different businesses to traverse on," he smiled. "You, Davis, TK…all of your friends can visit whenever you want, whether it's for hanging out or helping out. We'll be here to greet you." That put a smile on Kari's face…and May's, Max's, Delia's…everyone brightened with understanding.

"Thanks, Ash." That's when she leaped up and gave him one more for the road…which now everyone got to see. Misty and May hiccupped at the kiss, thinking that Kari had a great heart for Ash. Max's reaction: awe. Delia's reaction to her son getting a smooch: happy? Did anything faze her…besides seeing her son looking dead? With that, and Gatomon and Hawkmon saying bye to Pikachu, the girls left, a fond farewell for now.

"Well, Ash, should we get ready?" Misty asked. Ash acted ready to go on his next journey.

"You bet," he excitedly roared. The group had gone back through the tunnel, back to their world and onto new adventures. However, this wasn't the last that Ash and friends would see the Digidestined.

* * *

_(TWO MONTHS LATER)_

Ash was alone on a pier looking out into the ocean beneath the nighttime sky. Holding a case with four shimmering gold coins, Ash's confidence became a climber, nearing the peak of perfection. "Pike Queen Lucy was a tough one to battle," he reviewed to himself. "Only three more to go and next is the Battle Palace." Looking up to the moon, he saw a shimmer of sparkles. In the sparkles, a bluish butterfly-type creature fluttered above. That creature prompted Ash to remember something that had been on his mind. "Well, that reminds me. I wonder if Kari's Metapod had evolved into a Butterfree, yet." As if on cue…

"That _is_ my Butterfree, Ash," echoed…Kari? Hearing her voice, Ash twisted his head, seeing none other than Kari, herself. Ash was a bit surprised to see her.

"Kari, what's up?" Kari walked toward Ash, stepping onto the pier and allowing her Butterfree to join the fun as Gatomon entered as well.

"Well, Ken's surrendered his spot and has joined us, and we've been battling newer enemies, but nothing too outrageous." So, Ash's talk of smacking some reality into Ken paid off. "Other than that, I've been bored and missing you." She just came by to visit. How nice of her. Not like that one Boston Red Sox/New England Patriots "fan" who threw a slice of pizza at another ballpark attendee for trying to catch a legitimate foul ball at Fenway Park.

"Well, I just earned my fourth symbol, and now, we're going to May's next contest on Chrysanthemum Island." Ash and his crew were ready to move out tomorrow. Right now, he sat back on the wood, reminiscing in thoughts of when he was revived by that "friend" in his sub-consciousness. "You know, when you told me that Wizardmon was the one who restored my body and that story, I felt rather inspired." The guy that was in that dream state was Wizardmon? Kari sat beside him, wanting to know what it was like meeting him…unless that happened during the homecoming.

"Even when I told you about how he sacrificed his life to protect me, I still shed tears." It was heartbreaking to hear about what happened to Wizardmon. "But, since knowing that you have a piece of him, I feel better." Ash was happy to hear these comforting words.

"Because when you see me, you see him, too?" Kari happily sighed, saying that this Wizardmon was a part of Ash. That's when her nose started to tickle…and thus she turned to Ash. He was stinky.

"When was the last time you bathed?" Ash was a bit stunned with this discovery. Quickly, he gave himself a nosy go-around. That's when he smelt that pungent odor, and nearly fainted for it.

"It must have been from Jessie's Seviper's Haze. I forgot all about that." Was that before or after your battle with Pike Queen Lucy?

"Well, I know one solution to that." That's a bath, young man. Kari pushed Ash into the lake with her foot. That's a start. Ash resurfaced, wondering why she was committing violence on him. "I'll make sure that you're all cleaned up for the morning." Grabbing shampoo, soap, conditioner, the main essentials, Kari dove in after Ash. She began to scrub just about every piece of Ash. This hero of multiple worlds had a grungy job to do. Now that it's all cleansed up, there's only smooth sailing as Kari clung onto Ash, not wanting to let go of him, no matter where he went.

* * *

THE END


End file.
